Objective To examine antimicrobial resistance and enterotoxigenicity of foodborne Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolates in 29 provincial regions of China in 2017.
Methods Totally, 397 foodborne S. aureus isolates were collected in 29 provincial regions of China in 2017 and antimicrobial susceptibility, enterotoxin genes, and toxigenic capability of all isolates were tested.
Results In total, 96.5% (383/397) of the S. aureus isolates exhibited different resistant level to 13 antimicrobials tested. The resistance rate to penicillin (PEN) was the highest (94.7%). Moreover, 30.2% (120/397) were identified as multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains. Isolates from rice and flour products showed the most MDR, and the MDR rates were 7.4% (34/91) and 37.3% (19/51), respectively. A total of 72 drug resistant spectrums were identified from all 397 isolates. Furthermore, 20 virulence genes were detected in 284 isolates. The typical SEs genes of sea, seb, sec and sed were detected in 82 strains (20.7%, 82/397) with sea (14.9%) and sec (5.0%) as the most frequently detected. More than 90% of the sea to sed carrying isolates were confirmed with the capacity to produce enterotoxins.
Conclusion An overall high level antimicrobial resistance was found among foodborne S. aureus isolates in China in 2017, so was the MDR condition, especially for strains recovered from some foods. Virulence genes could be frequently detected in foodborne S. aureus isolates, most of which could produce enterotoxins.
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