Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance of Staphylococcus Aureus Isolates at Qassim Region, Central of Saudi Arabia

This study was conducted in Qassim region, Central of Saudi Arabia on 562 animals (310 sheep and 252 goats) to determine the prevalence and aetiology of clinical mastitis in sheep and goats in addition, to characterize the genetic basis of multidrug resistance of the isolated bacteria. The overall prevalence of clinical mastitis (CM) was 9.43% (53/562) where it was 7.74% (24/310) and 11.50% (29/252) in sheep and goats, respectively. Bacteriological examination of the milk from clinically mastitic animals revealed Staphylococcus aureus (84.91%), Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (CNS) (5.66%), S. agalactiae (7.55%) and Escherichia coli (1.88%). Clinically, the symptoms were differed from animal to another according to the isolated pathogens. Disk diffusion method and specific PCR technique were used to determine the sensitivity of the isolated Staphylococcus aureus. The nuc gene was confirmed by PCR targeting specific region of 16s rDNA region of the S. aureus (nuc gene) in all S. aureus isolates. Tet-k and tet-m responsible for tetracycline resistance were detected in 55.55 % and 75.55 % respectively. MRSA was identified in 86.66% of the isolated bacteria. Finally it can be concluded that sheep and goat mastitis represent a great problem. Also multidrug resistant genes were detected for the first time in Saudi Arabia in the isolated pathogens, so great attention must be paid toward the uses of antimicrobials during mastitis treatment where these resistant bacteria can be transmitted from animal to human.