Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a major cause of food poisoning due to
their ability to produce enterotoxins. Food handlers carrying enterotoxin-
producing S. aureus in their noses or hands can contaminate food leading to
food poisoning. Different methods have been used to detect these toxins;
DNA amplification methods can show the presence of enterotoxigenic
strains of S. aureus before the expression of enterotoxins on the basis of
specific gene sequences. The aim of this study was to asses presence of
enterotoxigenic S. aureus in nose and hand of food handlers.
Nasal and hand (right and left) swabs were collected from each food
handlers. The swabs were inoculated on mannitol salt agar plates and
incubated aerobically overnight. Identification of S. aureus isolates was
done by Gram’s stain and biochemical tests. Detection of genes responsible
for production of enterotoxin (A, B and C) was carrying out by PCR.
Out of 165 swabs investigated, 48(29%) were S. aureus. Of them 21(43.7%)
were nasal isolates, while the rest 27(56.3%) were isolated from hands. Out
of the 48 S. aureus isolated, 9 (18.7%) were associated with staphylococcal
enterotoxin A (SEA) gene, 7(14.5%) was associated with staphylococcal
enterotoxin B (SEB) gene and there is no isolate associated with
staphylococcal enterotoxin C (SEC).
This study concluded that there is high percentage of S. aureus carrier
among food handlers. The most prevalent enterotoxin gene was A, followed
by B. Further studies are required to validate this study and to detect other
enterotoxin genes.
