Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in minas frescal cheese: evaluation of classic enterotoxin genes, antimicrobial resistance and clonal diversity.

This study aimed to investigate classical enterotoxin (sea to see) and mecA genes, by polymerase chain reaction and anitimicrobial susceptibility, by disk diffusion test of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from minas frescal cheese (MFC). All methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates were investigated for the presence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes and clonal diversity. Thirty-one S. aureus were isolated from four MFC samples. Seven (22.6%) S. aureus carried mecA gene and two of them carried enterotoxin genes seb/sec and sea/seb. Five (16.1%) S. aureus isolates showed induced resistance to clindamycin and nine (29%) were resistant to multiple -antibiotics (MDR), among these, six were MRSA. No MRSA isolates presented the PVL genes. Four MRSA were grouped into three clones and three isolates were not typable by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. MRSA isolates showed, by multilocus sequence typing, sequence types ST1, ST5, ST72 and ST4304 (new ST) and S. aureus protein A (spa type) t127, t568 and t2703. These data suggest that MFC may constitute a risk to the consumer because of its potential for staphylococcal food poisoning; however it might, also, become one of MRSA and MDR strains disseminator, including clones usually found in the hospital environment.

Alternative methods for the feeding of triatomines under laboratory conditions

Visando a melhor eficácia na criaçäo e manutençäo de triatomíneos em condiçöes de laboratório, elaboramos dois sistemas de alimentaçäo, um com fonte natural, no qual foi utilizado pombo que mantém-se vivo após vários repastos sucessivos em triatomíneos e o outro com fonte artificial, utilizando-se sangue de carneiro desfibrinado. Além dos equipamentos serem compostos de material de fácil aquisiçäo e de baixo custo, estes mostraram-se eficientes e práticos, oferecendo ótimas condiçöes na alimentaçäo dos triatomíneos