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Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections in livestock and humans pose serious health problems. Therefore, identifying the virulence genes of this bacterium and studying their characteristics are of great importance. The main objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of virulence (enterotoxin) genes of S. aureus isolated from sheep noses in the Sistan region. In this study, 100 isolates of S. aureus were collected. After genomic extraction of the identified isolates, a multiplex PCR reaction was performed for sea, seb, sec, see, tsst, and pvl genes using specific primers. In total, 49 isolates of S. aureus isolated contained one or more enterotoxin genes. The most abundant gene was tsst (37%), followed by sec (23%), seb (20%), and sea (2%). In general, it was found that the presence of S. aureus in sub-clinical animal isolates, especially enterotoxigenic strains, can be a potential health hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes tularemia in both human and animals. Tularemia is a potential serious zoonotic disease that is transmitted by different routes, including tick bites. Materials and Methods: This study deals with investigating the prevalence of F. tularensis in the ticks of local animal farms in Kurdistan region since the farmers are normally in close contact with livestock. We used molecular methods for this purpose. A total of 412 tick and 126 blood samples were gathered from goat, sheep, and cow flocks. The existence of F. tularensis 16Sr RNA gene was examined in the samples using nested-PCR technique. Results: In the animal blood specimens, no F. tularensis was found. The incidence of F. tularensis was 1.7% (7 out of 412) in the tick samples, representing a very lower possibility of tuleremia infection. Moreover, the two subspecies of F. tularensis novicida and holarctica were identified based on the sequencing of pdpD and RD genes, respectively. The F. tularensis subsp. novicida was isolated from four species of ticks, Hyalomma anatolicum, Rhipicephalus annulatus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus , and Ornithodoros spp., whereas the F. tularensis subsp. holarctica was isolated from Haemaphysalis parva and Hyalomma dromedarii species of ticks. Conclusion: Although its prevalence is very low, the isolation of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica from the ticks of farm animals suggests possible transmission of Tularemia through tick bite in Kurdistan region of Iraq. Ref: IR-UU-AEC-3/22.