Molecular fingerprinting of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from human and poultry in Duhok, Iraq

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been recently identified in poultry and farm workers. The aim of this work was to investigate the epidemiological relatedness of MRSA among chickens and farmworker. MRSA isolates (n=50) from human (n=14) and from chikens (n=36) were tested for molecular epidemiological relatedness between human and poultry. RAPD-PCR was carried out for fingerprinting of MRSA isolates genome. Seven genotypes group (A-G) have been identified. All human MRSA were belonging to genotype A. Whereas, chickens MRSA isolates was belonging to different genotype patterns groups (A-G). To conclude, human MRSA was belonging to one genotype pattern but the chickens MRSA strains were belonging to seven genotypes. The genotype pattern A was the most dominant among all MRSA isolates. It is possible that the chickens play an important role for the human exposure to MRSA by direct contact. Further studies are required to address the relatedness between human and chicken MRSA.