Occurrence, antibiotic resistance, and enteroxigenicity of Staphylococcus spp. in tonsils of slaughtered pigs in Greece.

The aims of the present study were to examine the occurrence ofStaphylococcusspp. in the tonsils of slaughtered pigs in a regional slaughterhouse in Greece, the antibiotic resistance of theStaphylococcusspp. isolates, and the enteroxigenicity of theS. aureusisolates.Staphylococcusspp. were isolated in 70 (48 center dot 61%) out of the total 144 tonsil samples. The predominant species wasS. aureusin coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS), while the predominant species wereStaphylococcus epidermidisandStaphylococcus saprophyticusin the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS).Staphylococcusspp. isolates presented high antibiotic resistance frequencies to tetracycline (97 center dot 1%) or clindamycin (80 center dot 0%) and low antibiotic resistance frequencies to fusidic acid (14 center dot 3%). No methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA) strains were identified, and allStaphylococcusspp. isolates were susceptible to vancomycin. Among the 26S. aureusisolates, 21 (80 center dot 76%) possessed staphylococcal enterotoxin genes with seven different enterotoxin gene profiles. The predominant enterotoxin profile wasseg,seiandsejwith sevenS. aureusisolates. The occurrence of multidrug resistantStaphylococcusspp. in pig tonsils indicate public health risk to pork consumers and handlers in developing antimicrobial resistance.