Presence and Resistance Profile of Staphylococcus spp. Isolated from Slaughtered Pigs

The objective of this study was to isolate Staphylococcus spp. and to characterize the resistance profile in nasal samples from pigs slaughtered for consumption. Intranasal swabs were collected from 100 pigs immediately after bleeding in a slaughterhouse located in the largest pork production region in Brazil, these samples were cultured and isolated to identify Staphylococcus spp. in coagulase positive (CoPS) and coagulase negative (CoNS) and molecular identification of Staphylococcus aureus and then subjected to the disk-diffusion test to identify the bacterial resistance profile and search for the mecA gene. Of the 100 samples collected, it was possible to isolate 79 Staphylococcus spp., of these, 72.15% were classified as CoNS and 27.85% of the isolates classified as CoPS. Among the CoPS isolates, 77.27% were identified as S. aureus. Through the disk-diffusion test, it was possible to verify isolates resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin (98.73%), chloramphenicol (93.67%), and doxycycline (89.87%). There was amplification of the mecA gene in 30.38% of Staphylococcus spp. The results of this study highlight the need for the careful use of antibiotics in swine production, in addition to aiming at continuous surveillance in relation to the rate of multiresistant microorganisms within these environments, focused on large industrial centers; such results also indicate the importance of understanding, through future studies, possible pathways to transmission of these microorganisms directly, or indirectly, through meat products derived from these pigs, which can be considered neglected diffusers of variants of Staphylococcus spp. resistant to antibiotics or carriers of important resistance genes related to One Health.