S. aureus represents a public health challenge worldwide on the basis of their resistance to antimicrobials as well as the production of certain virulence factors such as enterotoxins. Detection of enterotoxin production, plasmid profiles and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were carried out. Four out of 10 S. aureus isolates produced different types of enterotoxins. Plasmid profile revealed the presence of 3 plasmids (42, 4 and 2 MDa) in 2 out of 4 enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates and none in the remaining 2 isolates. Also, enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates exhibited multiple drug resistance. Conjugation experiment revealed the transfer of 42 MDa plasmid to S. aureus and Enteococcus faecalis recipient strains. These transconjugants were able to produce enterotoxin D and conferred resistance to chloramphenicol (CH) and sulfamethoxazole (SSS). A positive direct and significant correlation was found between enterotoxin D transfer and the co-transfer of CHL and SSS.
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