Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from varying sources in kutahya province of turkey

In this study, 106 Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated fromdifferent food samples, food handlers, food processing equipments and clinicalsamples in Kutahya province. The isolates were characterised and the relationbetween isolates from food handlers and foods from the same source wasinvestigated in order to explain the infection route of the bacterium.Conventional biochemical techniques and VITEK were used foridentification of S. aureus isolates. Phenotyping included antibiotic sensitivitytests, enterotoxin determination test with SET-RPLA, total cell protein analysis bySDS-PAGE and fatty acid methyl esters analysis (FAME), however genotypingwas carried out by using pulsed field jel electrophoresis (PFGE) with Sma Irestriction enzyme, and otomatic ribotyping with Eco RI .Methicilin resistance was observed in four isolates obtained from foodsamples and two clinical isolates. No resistance was determined to antibioticsmupirocin, teicoplanin and vancomycin. 91.74 % of isolates tested were resistantto penicilin G. 99 isolates were tested for enterotoxin production and three isolates(3.03 %) did not produce any entorotoxin, three isolates (3.03 %) producedentorotoxins C and D together, and the remaining 93 isolates producedentorotoxins D only. No relation between isolates and sources of isolates by usingtheir protein profiles determined with SDS-PAGE method was obtained. In thisstudy, a FAME database based on the analyses of fatty acids was established foridentification of S. aureus but, no relation was observed between fatty acidprofiles and source of the isolates.In genotypic studies, nine pulsotypes with PFGE and seven ribotypeswith ribotyping were determined. It is concluded that these methods can be usedreliably to determine S. aureus genotypes among the isolates obtained from thesame sources and monitor infection paths.Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, VITEK, fatty acids, typing, PFGE,Ribotyping.