Screening Of Staphylococcus Aureus İsolates For Meca And Mecc Genes Carriage

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important pathogen which causes hospital infections and different systemic infections. MRSA is clarified by the acquisition of the mecA gene, which is located on the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). MecC gene, is a mecA gene homologue showing ~ 69 DNA similarities to the mecA gene. mecC gene positive S. aureus was firstly detected in livestock. Because of that, livestock constitute a reservoir of S. aureus harboring mecC gene in terms of spread to human. The aim of this study was to determine the mecC gene in 177 S. aureus isolates collected from two distinct veterinary laboratories (Burdur and Aydin) between 2011 and 2013. Microorganisms were firstly defined by colony morphology, Gram stain, catalase test, mannitol fermentation and coagulase tests. After that, further identification process was performed by MALDI‐TOF MS (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, MA, USA). Antibiotic susceptibility testing by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method with oxacillin (1 μg) and cefoxitin (30 μg) was performed according to the CLSI standards. Inhibition zone diameters for cefoxitin