Antibiotic Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Retailed Raw Beef at Choba Market, Rivers State

Aims: The aim of the study was to determine the presence of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus in retail raw beef in Choba market, Nigeria.

Study design: The study is based on a completely randomized design with two replicates and the mean being calculated.

Place and Duration of Study: Major’s Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt within three months.

Methodology: The presence, characterization and antibiotic susceptibility of S. aureus from 30 retail raw beef samples was done using standard microbiological method involving the use of mannitol salt agar (MSA) and Mueller Hinton agar (MHA).

Results: All the samples were positive for Staphylococcus species of which 18 (60.00%) were positive for S. aureus. The S. aureus strains were least resistant to gentamycin (22.22%) and cotrimoxazole (38.89%) with varying resistance against erythromycin (83.33%), tetracycline (88.88) and chloramphenicol (61.11%). All the S. aureus isolates in this study were 100% resistant to cloxacillin, amoxicillin and augmentin or amoxicillin-clavulanic acid combination. These results also showed the potential dissemination of multidrug-resistant S. aureus strains in the raw beef samples examined.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggested high-level contamination of meat with multi-drug resistant S. aureus and this highlights the public health consequences associated with consuming such unhygienic products if poorly prepared.