Vol. 12, Special Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Krupa Rose Jose and K Vijayakumar

Abstract:
The present study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance profile of staphylococci isolated from bovine mastitis. In the current study, out of the 83 milk samples obtained from cows with clinical mastitis, 22 S. aureus and 27 coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) were isolated based on the morphological, cultural, biochemical and molecular characteristics. On antibiogram by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion assay, 12 out of the 22 S. aureus (54.55 percent) and seven out of the 27 CNS (25.93 percent) were resistant to tetracycline. Molecular characterisation of tetracycline resistance by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting tetM gene revealed positive amplicons in four isolates each of S. aureus (18.18 percent) and CNS (14.81 percent) respectively. This must be considered as an alarming situation because of the anticipated food safety and public health risks related to the transmission of milk-borne zoonotic diseases, antibiotic residues and organisms harbouring numerous toxins, resistance and virulence factors.