Phenotypic and molecular characterization of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> from mobile phones in Nigeria

Anthonia O. Oluduro; Yetunde M. Adesiyan; Olumide O. Omoboye; Adebowale T. Odeyemi; Anthonia O. Oluduro; Yetunde M. Adesiyan; Olumide O. Omoboye; Adebowale T. Odeyemi

doi:10.3934/microbiol.2023021

AIMS Microbiology

2023, Volume 9, Issue 3: 402-418. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2023021

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Research article

Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from mobile phones in Nigeria

1.
Department of Microbiology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 220005, Nigeria
2.
Landmark University SDG Groups 2 and 3; Department of Food Sciences and Microbiology, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria

Received: 11 January 2023 Revised: 03 March 2023 Accepted: 07 March 2023 Published: 23 April 2023

The presence of Staphylococcus aureus, a normal human flora on cellphones of different professionals in Ile-Ife was investigated with a view to determining their antibiotic susceptibility profile and nature of resistance and virulence genes. One hundred swab samples were collected aseptically from mobile phones of various users based on their profession. Surfaces of the mobile phones were swabbed and the streak plate method was used to isolate colonies showing characteristic golden yellow on mannitol salt agar plates. These isolates were further identified using standard microbiological methods. The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was determined using Kirby-Bauer's disk diffusion technique. Molecular detection of nuc, mecA and pvl genes in some isolates was carried out by polymerase chain reaction technique. All the 36 isolates obtained in this study were 100% resistant to amoxicillin and augmentin; the isolates also displayed 55.6%, 44.4% and 41.7% resistance to ceftriazone, erythromycin and chloramphenicol, respectively. Based on resistance to oxacillin, prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was 11.1%. Only one S. aureus was positive for plasmid analysis. MecA gene was genetically confirmed in four (4) out of the 16 suspected phenotypic MRSA strains, nuc gene was confirmed in all 28 isolates investigated, while there was no pvl gene in the strains investigated. Mobile phones harbor multiple antibiotics resistant S. aureus, which are responsible for important diseases in humans and could be difficult to manage with antibiotics thereby posing serious health risks.
- mobile phone,
- Staphylococcus aureus,
- nuc,
- mecA,
- multiple antibiotic resistance
Citation: Anthonia O. Oluduro, Yetunde M. Adesiyan, Olumide O. Omoboye, Adebowale T. Odeyemi. Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from mobile phones in Nigeria[J]. AIMS Microbiology, 2023, 9(3): 402-418. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2023021

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Abstract

The presence of Staphylococcus aureus, a normal human flora on cellphones of different professionals in Ile-Ife was investigated with a view to determining their antibiotic susceptibility profile and nature of resistance and virulence genes. One hundred swab samples were collected aseptically from mobile phones of various users based on their profession. Surfaces of the mobile phones were swabbed and the streak plate method was used to isolate colonies showing characteristic golden yellow on mannitol salt agar plates. These isolates were further identified using standard microbiological methods. The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was determined using Kirby-Bauer's disk diffusion technique. Molecular detection of nuc, mecA and pvl genes in some isolates was carried out by polymerase chain reaction technique. All the 36 isolates obtained in this study were 100% resistant to amoxicillin and augmentin; the isolates also displayed 55.6%, 44.4% and 41.7% resistance to ceftriazone, erythromycin and chloramphenicol, respectively. Based on resistance to oxacillin, prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was 11.1%. Only one S. aureus was positive for plasmid analysis. MecA gene was genetically confirmed in four (4) out of the 16 suspected phenotypic MRSA strains, nuc gene was confirmed in all 28 isolates investigated, while there was no pvl gene in the strains investigated. Mobile phones harbor multiple antibiotics resistant S. aureus, which are responsible for important diseases in humans and could be difficult to manage with antibiotics thereby posing serious health risks.

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria for providing an enabling environment for this study.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Author's contribution

Anthonia Oluduro: Conceptualization, Supervision and Project Administration; Anthonia Oluduro and Yetunde Adesiyan: Methodology, resources and Funding Acquisition; Anthonia Oluduro, Odeyemi Adebowale, Yetunde Adesiyan and Olumide Omoboye: Validation, Formal Analysis, Data curation and Visualization, Investigation; Yetunde Adesiyan and Olumide Omoboye: Writing Original Draft; Anthonia Oluduro, Odeyemi Adebowale and Olumide Omoboye: Writing Review and Editing.

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