Occurrence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Camels Slaughtered at Kano Abattoir, Kano, Nigeria

This study assess the occurrence of Methicilin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among camels in Kano abattoir. A total of 300 nasal swabs were collected from camels at the lairage in Kano abbatoir, Nigeria to isolate and ‘biochemically characterize Staphylococcus aureus and confirm Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among isolates using oxacillin resistance screening agar basal medium (ORSAB), disc diffusion method and also through detection of penicillin binding protein 2′ (PBP 2′). Fourteen percent (42/300) suspected Staphylococcus spp isolates were confirmed using coagulase, DNase, hemolysis and sugar fermentation test. Of the 42 isolated Staphylococcus aureus, 35.7% (15/42) were confirmed to be MRSA on ORSAB medium of which twelve were also resistant to oxacillin, using disc diffusion method. Five (33.3%) of the fifteen purtative MRSA were confirmed to produce penicillin- binding protein 2′ by PBP 2′ latex agglutination test kit. The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA was higher in males than in females (p > 0.05). Multidrug resistance was displayed by all Staphylococcus aureus isolates with 100% resistance to ampicillin and penicillin, but 97.6% of the isolates were susceptible to amikacin and 90% to ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. There was no statistical significance difference in antibiotic resistance between Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, cloxacillin, erythromycin, gentamicin, penicillin, tetracycline, sulphamethoxazole, vancomycin with p-value > 0.05 but there was statistical significance to oxacillin with p-value of 0.0001 and Odds Ratio of 0.7143. MRSA strains were found in 5% of camels and thus may play a potential role in disseminating the pathogen between animals and humans.