Abstract

The study aimed to isolate and identify of different Staphylococcus spp . from skin and mucus membranes of nose of cattle, sheep and their owners; study the ability of isolates to resist methicillin by using genotypic and phenotypic methods. Two hundred and ten swabs were collected from skin and mucus membranes (80 from cattle; 80 from sheep and 50 from owners). The samples were subjected to conventional microbiological techniques and final identification of thirty isolates was done using HistaphTM kit. The identified isolates were tested against 7 antimicrobials, also these isolates were subjected to PCR for detection of mec A and mec C genes. The Staphylococcus spp . isolates which identified in this study were 16 including ( S. schleiferi subsp. Coagulans ); ( S. auricularis, S. caseolyticus, S. hominissubsp. novobiosepticus and, S. pasteuri ); ( S. Cohnii subsp.cohnii, S. sciuri and S. sciuri subsp. Rodentium ) and ( S. carnosus subsp. utilis, S. gallinarum, S. haemolyticus, S.hominis, S. intermedius, S. lentus, S. vitulus , and S. fleurettii ) in percentages 13.33%, 10%, 6.6% and 3.33% respectively. Regarding antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates, the percentages of resistance to antibiotics were 100%, 66.66%, 20%, 20%, 16.7%, 10%, and 3.33% against amoxicillin, penicillin, tetracycline, oxacillin, erythromycin, vancomycin and gentamicin respectively. Concerning mecgenes, 33.33% of isolates were carried mec A gene, while, the mec C gene was not detected in isolates. All isolates which carried the mec A gene were negative to coagulase. In conclusion, some of Staphylococcus spp . present on the outer surfaces of human and animals and possess the mec A gene may have the ability to transfer the methicillin resistance to other bacterial species.

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