Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Gene Profile of Clinical Staphylococcus aureus : A Multi-Center Study from Ethiopia

causes a wide range of infections from mild skin and soft tissue to severe life-threatening bacteremia. The pathogenicity of infections is related to various bacterial surface components and extracellular proteins such as toxic-shock syndrome (TSS) toxin and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). In this study we determine the antimicrobial resistance of isolated strains and their virulence genes in Ethiopia. A total of 190 archived isolates from four Ethiopia Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance sites were analyzed. The identification of was done by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF Biotyper) and antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) was done using VITEK 2. Multiplex PCR was used to detect and genes and super-antigens ( and staphylococcal enterotoxins). A total of 172 isolates were confirmed as , 9 (5.23%) were methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and 163 (94.76%) were methicillin-susceptible (MSSA). AST showed that 152 (88.4%) isolates were resistant to penicillin; 90 (52.32%) resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; and 45 (26.16%) resistant to tetracycline. A total of 66 (38.37%) isolates harbored at least one staphylococcal enterotoxin gene and 31 (46.96%) isolates had more than one. The most frequent enterotoxin gene encountered was 28 (16.28%). The gene was detected in 23 (13.37%). Presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin gene showed significant association with antibiotic resistance to cefoxitin, benzylpenicillin, oxacillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline and SXT. The gene was detected in 102 (59.3%) of isolates. Isolates from patients below 15 years of age showed significantly high numbers of gene (P = 0.02). Presence of (P = 0.011) and (P