Veterinary Research Forum
Vet Res Forum

Determination of prevalence, virulence characterization, and antimicrobial resistance patterns of emerging methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in frozen fish fillet and shrimp

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Reham M. EL-Tarabili 1
Sherief M. Abdel-Raheem 2
Mahmoud Ezzat 1
Mohamed Bolbol 3
Marwa E. Abo Hashem 1

1 Department of Bacteriology, Immunology, and Mycology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

2 Department of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

3 Veterinarian at Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt

https://doi.org/10.30466/vrf.2025.2048722.4589
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is one of food poisoning bacteria. This study assessed the prevalence, virulence factors, and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of S. aureus isolated from frozen fish and shrimp in Egypt. Ninety samples from frozen fish fillets and shrimps (45 for each) were examined for S. aureus prevalence using VITEK 2 compact system, followed by molecular confirmation by nuc gene, virulence characterization, and its resistance genes. The overall prevalence rate of S. aureus was 14.44% (13/90). Fish fillet had the highest mean total S. aureus count (9.50 ± 3.50 × 105 colony forming unit g-1), followed by shrimp (7.50 ± 3.30 × 105 colony-forming unit g-1), with a non-significant difference among fish fillet and shrimp. All confirmed S. aureus isolates were lecithinase producers and showed β-hemolysis, and coagulase positive, and confirmed molecularly coa gene positive. All isolates were resistant to ampicillin (100%), both erythromycin and clindamycin (69.23%), and tetracycline (61.53%), followed by vancomycin (46.15%). However, all isolates were sensitive to linezolid, tigecycline (84.70%), and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (61.53%). Twelve (92.30%) phenotypically cefoxitin and oxacillin-resistant and molecularly mecA recovered S. aureus isolates were confirmed as methicillin-resistant S. aureus, while based on vancomycin-resistant pheno-typically, and molecularly vanA recovered S. aureus isolates were confirmed as vancomycin-resistant S. aureus. The emergence of multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus in frozen fish fillets and shrimp indicates public health hazards, so there is a need for food safety measures alongside reliable detection methods of resistant bacteria along the food chain.

Keywords

Fish fillet
MRSA/VRSA
Multidrug-resistant
Shrimp
Staphylococcus aureus

Subjects

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Veterinary Research Forum
Volume 17, Issue 1
January 2026
Pages 15-22

  • Receive Date 22 December 2024
  • Revise Date 21 February 2025
  • Accept Date 22 April 2025

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