Abstract:
Coagulase positive Staphylococcus species are produce a wide range of heat-stable
enterotoxins and ingestion of less than 1.0 μg enterotoxin causes staphylococcal food
poisoning. Little information is available at present about the toxinogenic potential of this
bacterial species in camel milk and about the role of the raw camel milk in intoxication of the
consumer by staphylococcal enterotoxins. Consumption of raw camel milk should be of major
concern from public health point of view. A cross-sectional study was conducted from
November 2021 to August 2022 to isolate coagulase positive Staphylococcus from subclinical
mastitic lactating camels, to estimate prevalence, identify risk factors and to determine the
antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of coagulase positive Staphylococcus isolates in Babile
district, Eastern Ethiopia. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess potential risk
factors. California mastitis test, bacterial isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were
conducted. Pearson’ Chi-square test was used to analyze the collected data. A total of 1233
milk samples were screened for SCM, 220 (17.8%) were found to be CMT positive. The
prevalence of SCM in the study areas was 34.8% (112/322). The prevalence of CPS was found
to be 68.8% (77/112) and 47.3% (104/220) on animal and quarter basis, respectively. Among
the risk factors studied, CPS in milk was shown significant association (P <0.05) with stage of
lactation in camels. Of CPS isolates, the predominantly pathogens identified were
Staphylococcus aureus at proportion of 58.4 % and 25.9% animal and teat level respectively.
Antibiotic susceptibility was checked with 9 antibiotics using disc diffusion method and
revealed high multidrug resistance of 45 (90%). High level of multiple resistance was
observed to drugs like penicillin (84%), cefoxitin (80%) and ampicillin (64 %) were scored.
However, the CPS isolates were shown susceptibility to amikacin, erythromycin and
ciprofloxacin at 88%, 74% and 72%, respectively. In conclusion, this study highlights the
importance of CPS with respect to camel milk intoxication due to its enterotoxin and as a
mastitis causing bacterium. Therefore, improved management and hygienic milking process is
needed to improve the health of camels and the quality of camel milk in the study areas as well
to reduce public risks due to consuming raw milk with MDR of CPS
