Risk of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Poultry Meat of Chicken with Arthritis in Poultry Farms

Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen that affects both people and animals. Staphylococcus aureus causes food poisoning in addition to invasive diseases as arthritis and septicemia. This study was done on 70 chicken samples obtained from 7 different farms of chickens with symptoms of arthritis in Kafr El-sheikh government, Egypt. In this study out of 70 samples of chickens from different farms, 37 (52.8%) samples were recognized as coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS) and 33 (47.1%) were recognized as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). By using the microtitre plate method, seven out of 37 (18.9%) CoPS were positive for biofilm production with variable degrees. The pattern of antibacterial sensitivity of 7 Staphylococcus aureus isolates against 12 commercially available antibiotic discs showed 100 % resistance to oxytetracycline then Amoxicillin (71.43%), Erythromycin (57.14%), Norfloxacin (14.29%), Tetracycline (42.86), Sulphamethoxazole (42.86%), Gentamicin (42.86%), Ampicillin (42.86%), kanamycin (28.57), cephatotin (28.57), doxycycline (0%) and the least was observed with chloramphenicol (0%). seven of positive S. aureus isolates were introduced in order to identify the staphylococcal enterotoxin genes, SEA, SEB, SEC, SED, and SEE and integron by PCR test Which 4 out of 7 isolates (57.1 %) were positive for SEB and SED only while were other isolate were negative for all SE gene. Class 1 integron cassettes were detected in 6 isolates from 7 (85.7%) of tested isolates. In conclusion, this is the first study to report the detection and identification of enterotoxin and class 1 integron in S. aureus isolated from poultry meat of chicken that suffered from arthritis.