Abstract:
Staphylococcus. aureus (S. aureus) is an important bacterial pathogen of animal and human, and one of the bacteria that cause food poisoning especially in dairy products. In Ethiopia, the occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of S. aureus from cottage cheese is not well studied, and limited to few areas in the country. A cross sectional study was conducted from June 2022 to February 2023 to collect 219 cheese samples to estimate the load and the prevalence of S. aureus in cottage cheese and determine antimicrobial susceptibility profile of S. aureus isolates. A questionnaire survey was also employed to assess the hygienic handling practices of cottage cheese, and the awareness on cottage cheese borne infection and antimicrobial resistance in Arsi Highlands.The enumeration and isolation of S.aureus was carried out. Accordingly, 2.18 log CFU/g, 4.44 log CFU/g and 3.2logCFU/g the minimum, maximum, and mean load of S. aureus were recorded in the cottage cheese respectively with an over all prevalence 6.39% at the study area. Statistically, a high prevalence was observed in the sample from rural, retailers and container of poor hygiene condition in relation to samples from urban, producers and container of good hygiene condition respectively. There was no significance difference (p>0.05) observed in prevalence of S. aureus between markets and type of product container used. S. aureus isolated from cottage cheese showed a high level of resistance (100%) each to penicillin G, ampicillin, amoxicillin clauvulanic acid, and 85.7%, to oxacillin while gentamicin, streptomycin and kanamycin showed high susceptibilities of 100%, 100% and 85.7% respectively. All the tested S. aureus isolates showed intermediate resistance to erythromycin. The questionnaire survey revealed that the cottage cheese was prepared and handled under poor hygiene, and the community had low awareness about antibiotic resistance and cottage cheese borne infection without having any information about S. aureus food poisoning . The result of current study indicates the possibility of public health and cottage cheese safety risk posed by S. aureus and its antimicrobial resistance. The awareness on antibiotic resistance, cottage cheese borne infection and S. aureus food poisoning is found to be very low in the area. Therefore, educating and training the cottage cheese producers and retailers to reduce chance of contamination to the product, selecting of effective antimicrobials like gentamicin and streptomycin to treat S .aureus infection and increasing awareness about antibiotic resistance and Staphylococcus food poisoning are recommended.
