Prevalence and critical antibiotic-resistance traits of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from raw and ready-to-eat meat products

Abstract

The study aimed to compare Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profiles in raw and ready-to-eat meat products (RTEM). One hundred samples of raw hamburger, sausage, RTEM hawawshi, and kofta were tested using standard culture and automated VITEK2 methods. PCR was used to detect resistance genetic components. The overall prevalence of S. aureus and B. cereus was 20%, and 14%, respectively. S. aureus (60%) and B. cereus (73.7%) were isolated at similarly high rates from raw meat products. One B. cereus isolated from a raw burger was multidrug-resistant (MDR), whereas 25 % of S. aureus were MDR, with three resistance patterns. Neither the mcr1 nor the vanA genes were found in the B. cereus. While norA was found in four isolates, both blaTEM and blaCTX were found in three. The blaSHV was found only in three raw-derived isolates, two of which also shared blaTEM, blaCTX, and norA or blaTEM and norA. The data revealed that all of the MDR S. aureus isolates tested positive for mecA but not vanA genes. Such pathogens in RTE meat with genes confer resistance to key antibiotics, endangering public health and hastening the emergence of superbugs.