J Appl Microbiol. 2022;132:2331–2341. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jam | 2331 © 2021 Society for Applied Microbiology Received: 5 March 2021 | Revised: 30 June 2021 | Accepted: 6 July 2021 DOI: 10.1111/jam.15226 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Genotyping of enterotoxigenic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) among commensal rodents in North Sinai, Egypt Nada H. Eidaroos 1 | Ahmed I. Youssef 2 | Ali El- Sebae 3 | Mohamed E. Enany 1 | Doaa S. Farid 3 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology (Bacteriology), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 2 Department of Animal Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 3 Deparment of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish University, El Arish, Egypt Correspondence Ahmed I. Youssef, Department of Animal Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Round Road, Ismailia 4152, Egypt. Email: ahmed_ibrahim@vet.suez.edu. edu Abstract Aim: This study aimed to identify genotype enterotoxigenic antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus aureus species, mainly methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) among commensal rodents. Methods and results: A total of 280 samples were collected from nasal and mouth swabs, heart blood, intestinal content and lung tissues of 56 commensal rodents trapped from North Sinai, Egypt. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed to bacteriologically identified S. aureus isolates against 15 antimicrobial agents by disc diffusion method. Detection was conducted for identifying coagulase gene (coA), antimicrobial-resistant genes (mecA and vanA/B), enterotoxigenic and viru- lence determinant genes (hlg, seb, sed and see) among the MRSA and VRSA isolates. Results: Staphylococcus aureus species were isolated from 24 (42.86%) out of 56 ro- dents. Phenotypic examination revealed that all the isolates were multidrug-resistant, whereas two isolates were multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR). Out of 33 examined isolates, 33 (100%) were resistant to oxacillin and amoxicillin, 31 (93.93%) to cefoxitin and 12 (36.36%) to vancomycin. PCR assay revealed that 24 isolates revealed (100%) positivity to coA gene, 17 (70.83%) to mecA gene and 12 (50%) to vanA/B genes. Enterotoxin genes and haemolysin genes were detected among MRSA and VRSA isolates. There was a strong positive correlation between the tested antimicrobial- resistant genes and virulence genes (p > 0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrated the occurrence of MRSA and VRSA strains among commensal rodents in North Sinai, Egypt. The detection of enterotoxigenic and virulence genes of the isolated MRSA and VRSA strains indicated the health hazards of food contamination and zoonotic infections. Significance and impacts of the study.: This study emphasizes the role of com- mensal rodents in maintaining and disseminating multidrug-resistant MRSA and VRSA strains to the environment, animals and human beings. KEYWORDS Egypt, genotyping, MRSA, PCR, rodents, VRSA Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jambio/article/132/3/2331/6988859 by guest on 20 January 2023