MOLECULAR CHARA CTERIZATION OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS (MRSA) ISOLATED FROM BOVINE MASTITIS IN AND AROUND KOLKATA, INDIA

The present investigation was carried out on 118 milk samples collected from suspected clinical and subclinical mastitis affected indigenous and cross-bred cattle in and around Kolkata and North 24 Parganas districts. A total of 38 samples were positive for Staphylococcus aureus. This indicates that considerable proportion of cattle with intramammary infection was colonized with S. aureus. However, sizeable populations of those pathogens (15 of 38) were methicillin resistant (MRSA) by phenotypic detection method. Methicillin resistance gene (mecA) was detected from 6 samples out of those 15 samples. Overuse or inadvertent use of antibiotics may be the cause of development of such resistant strains in livestock. This may have huge public health significance as these resistant strains may enter the food chain and infect the consumer with consequences of life-threatening infections.