Annual Research & Review in Biology

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of methicillin (mecA and mecC) and antiseptic (qacA/B and smr) resistance genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in S. aureus isolated from sheep, goat, and cow milk, as well as the resistance of these isolates to various antibiotics by disc diffusion methods. In the study, 694 milk samples from 257 animals (cattle=90, sheep=60, goats=107) in farms with mastitis problems in Burdur province were collected. The milk samples were cultured on Blood agar supplemented with 5% defibrinated sheep blood aerobically for 24 hours at 37°C. The seventy five S. aureus colonies were identified by conventional bacteriological methods. A total of 60 S. aureus isolates were confirmed by detecting the S. aureus-specific nuc gene. As a result of the study, while one isolate was found to be positive for the mecA gene, the mecC gene was not detected in any of the S. aureus isolates. The presence of the qacA/B gene was detected in 3 isolates from bovine milk, and smr gene was detected in 2 S. aureus isolates (1 from sheep, 1 from bovine). The qacA/B and smr genes were not detected together in any isolate. In this study, methicillin and antiseptic resistance genes were also not detected in the same isolate. 58 of S. aureus isolates were susceptible to gentamicin and oxacillin, 56 to cefoperazone and ceftiofur, 55 to cefoxitin, 54 to amoxicillin clavulonic acid, 50 to oxytetracycline. In conclusion, the results of this study was showed that methicillin and antiseptic resistance in livestock animals is currently not a significant problem in Turkey, and no assocation between methicillin and antiseptic resistance was found. It has been concluded that the frequent use of antiseptics in human and animal health practices may lead to serious problems in the future, such as antibiotic resistance, and therefore antiseptic resistance should be monitored.