Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of antibiotic resistance in the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from hospital cockroaches.

Background: Cockroaches are one of the most important and frequent insects responsible for harboring, transmission and dissemination of human pathogens in the hospital environment. The present research was done to study the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of antibiotic resistance in the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from hospital cockroaches.
Methods: Five-hundred and thirty Periplanets americana and Blattella germanica cockroaches were collected and their gut content and external washing samples were subjected to bacterial isolation. MRSA strains were subjected to disk diffusion and PCR amplification of antibiotic resistance genes.
Results: Prevalence of MRSA strains in P. americana and B. germanica cockroaches were 52.77 and 43.33%, respectively. External washing samples of P. americana cockroaches had the highest prevalence of MRSA strains (59.57%). MRSA isolates of external washing samples harbored the highest prevalence of resistance against penicillin (100%), ceftaroline (100%), tetracycline (100%), gentamicin (83.33%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (80.55%). MRSA strains isolated from gut content samples harbored the highest prevalence of resistance against penicillin (100%), ceftaroline (100%), tetracycline (100%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (80%) and gentamicin (73.33%). BlaZ , aacA-D , tetK , msrA , dfrA , ermA , gyrA , grlA and rpoB were the most commonly detected antibiotic resistance genes amongst the MRSA strains.
Conclusions: The present investigation is the first report of the phenotypic and genotypic evaluation of antibiotic resistance in the MRSA strains isolated from P. americana and B. germanica hospital cockroaches. Hospital cockroaches are considered as a potential mechanical vector for MRSA strains.
Competing Interests: The study was approved by the Ethical Council of Research of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran (Consent Ref Number 1159706100005). Verification of this research project and the licenses related to sampling process were approved by the Dr. Zohreh Abdolmaleki and Dr. Zohreh Mashak (Approval Ref Number 25273).There was no consent for publication.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.