frequency of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus in the noses of malaysian chicken farmers and their chicken

the prevalence of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) and methicillin sensitivestaphylococcus aureus (mssa) carriage among poultry and poultry farmers in malaysia is largely unknown.in the current investigation, chickens and chicken farmers from 30 chicken farms were screened for mrsaand s. aureus carriage. the genetic characteristics of the isolates were determined through multi locussequence typing (mlst), staphylococcus protein a (spa) typing and virulent gene profiling. the outcome ofthe study showed lack of mrsa and extremely low s. aureus prevalence (n=7 of 503, 1.4%) among chickenflocks and the poultry farmers in malaysia. staphylococcus aureus isolates belonged to 4 sequence types(st): st97 (spa type t359), st1179 (t359), st 692 (t2247) and st188 (t189). it can be concluded thatmrsa/mssa prevalence is very low among chicken and chicken farmers, human and chicken crosstransmission of s. aureus does not seem to be a threat in malaysia.