ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Short Communication | Open Access
Murugadas Vaiyapuri1 , Ancy Tony1, Visnuvinayagam Sivam1, Reshmi Koombankallil1, Sreejith Vyyokaran Narayanan1, Ezhil Nilavan Sumathi1, Toms Cheriyath Joseph1,Madhusudana Rao Badireddy2 and Mukteswar Prasad Mothadaka2
1Microbiology Fermentation and Biotechnology Division, ICAR-CIFT, Matsyapuri Post, Willingdon Island, Cochin, Kerala, India.
2Visakhapatnam Research Centre of ICAR-CIFT, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Article Number: 10205 | © The Author(s). 2025
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2025;19(2):979-988. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.19.2.33
Received: 03 January 2025 | Accepted: 14 March 2025 | Published online: 31 May 2025
Issue online: June 2025
Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a persistent pathogen in the seafood industry, raising concerns for food safety. Identifying the origin and transmission of MRSA is highly critical to control its spread, thereby acts as a potential tool for virtual networking of MRSA transmission in seafood. The study was conducted in the seafood commodities across two fish landing centres and three adjoining retail fish markets of Kottayam district, Kerala. Seventy-four samples were collected by a set sampling plan and the samples were repeated for validating transmission tracking. The Staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing, clumping factor B, capsular polysaccharide and accessory gene regulator typing was accomplished on MRSA isolates to identify the type of strain present in the sample and their probable dissemination between the fish landing centres to retail fish markets. The molecular typing tools categorized the MRSA isolates into CP5-clfb-(t334), CP8-clfb-(t304, t3841, t304 and t127). Discriminatory power (D) was highest for spa typing than others tools. The study confirms the existence of MRSA in seafood and notices that MRSA are carried through seafood from landing centres to their adjoining retail markets. MRSA, owing to its recently established persistence in the seafood and spa typing tool due to its cost-effectiveness can be used in combination for the virtual networking of the transmission of seafood. Prior to this, the diversity of each location needs to be mapped.

Keywords

MRSA, Seafood, Virtual Networking, Spa Typing

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