| Summary: | Food handlers may constitute a reservoir of virulent strains of Staphy-lococcus aureus and may be vehicles of their transmission to food.One hundred and sixty-two volunteers were assessed for the presence of S. aureuson the hands and in the nose. S. aureus was isolated by routine procedures, and theisolates were tested for susceptibility against a panel of nine antimicrobial agents.The isolates were further characterized by SmaI-PFGE profiling and the presence ofvirulence factors.Results: The prevalence of S. aureus was 19.8% in the nose and 11.1% on the hands;6.2% of the individuals carried S. aureus both in their noses and hands, and threeindividuals had the same strain (PFGE type) in the nose and on the hands. Although82% of the isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, none demonstrated thepresence of either mecA gene or resistance to oxacillin (none identified as MRSA).Sixty-eight percent of the isolates from the nose and hands possessed enterotoxingenes.This study revealed a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance and virulence deter-minants among the isolates, including not only classical and novel enterotoxin genesbut also major virulence factors such as tst. Potential dissemination of these strainsin the community is a matter of concern.© 2015 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by ElsevierLimited. All rights reserved
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