Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the important pathogens involved in food related diseases and common community associated infections. This organism proliferates in food and causes food-borne illnesses. Milk serves as an ideal medium for growth of many microorganisms including Staphylococcus aureus. This study was conducted to isolate Staphylococcus aureus from raw cow milk and studying its antibiotics susceptibility. Two hundred raw cow milk samples were collected from four areas throughout Ghebaish locality under aseptic precautions and processed under standard bacteriological techniques. The samples were investigated for the presence of Staphyllococci. The Baird Parker Agar and Mannitol salt Agar were used as selective media for isolation. The presumptive isolates were identified on the basis of their morphological, cultural and biochemical characteristics. The sensitivity pattern of S. aureus with different antimicrobial agents was evaluated by disk diffusion method. Forty five (22%) Staphyllococci isolates were obtained and confirmed by biochemical tests, 33 (73%) isolates were Staphyllococcus aureus, 12 (26%) isolates were Staphylococcus epidermis.The results of sensitivity test revealed high resistance of antibiotics used. The two organisms showed resistant to Streptomycin (0%), Vancomycin (78% - 100%), methicillin (18% - 25%) and penicillin (100%).It is concluded that, S. aureus appeared to be a major frequent bacterial contaminant of raw cow milk reflecting potential public health threat. The result of antibiotics sensitivity testing showed variable response and multi-drug resistance.
