DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2014.v01i04.006

Pages: 173-179

Staphylococcus aureus, an opportunistic pathogen, is a gram positive, spherical or ovoid bacterium that causes serious diseases in men and animals. The occurrence and etiological significance of Staphylococcus aureus was studied in 623 samples which included 157 samples from man, 394 from animals (including mastitic cattle and dogs) and 72 samples from environment (39 from mangers and 33 from milking equipments). Each specimen was obtained aseptically and was subjected to direct smear by Gram’s technique as well as cultured on four microbial media (nutrient agar, mannitol salt agar, mlood agar and Staphylococcus agar). The inoculated media were incubated at 37°C for 24-48 hours for microbial growth. Among 623 samples, 35 isolates of S. aureus were obtained, giving prevalence rate of 5.62 per cent. The prevalence of S. aureus in human, animal and environment was 2.55 (4/157), 6.35 (25/394) and 8.33 (6/72) per cent, respectively. Of the 35 isolates of S. aureus, the prevalence noted in human beings, dogs and cows was 13.79, 20.69 and 65.52 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the location-wise prevalence of S. aureus was found to be 2.85 per cent in skin infections, 5.71 per cent in throat swabs, 2.85 per cent in normal human skin, 17.14 per cent in canine otitis, 31.43 per cent in mastitic milk, 8.57 per cent in normal cow milk, 14.28 per cent in udder & teat skin, and 17.14 per cent in milking equipments. All 35 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were subjected to in vitro drug sensitivity testing using seven drugs by disc diffusion technique. Tetracycline was found to be the most effective chemotherapeutic agent (85.72%) followed by enrofloxacin, gentamicin, ampicillin (each 71.43 %), ciprofloxacin, co-trimaxazole (48.57 %) and furazolidone (40.00 %) against S. aureus obtained from different sources. In conclusion, these findings suggest that Staph auerus plays an important role in the pathogensis of mastitis in cows, otitis in dogs and skin infection in human beings, a