Electrocardiographic Indices, Circulating Electrolytes and Cardiac Enzymes of Apparently Healthy Aged Layer Hens

Abstract

<strong>BACKGROUND: </strong><em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>is a highly versatile pathogen of a large number of domestic ani- mals, including avian species. There is limited information about <em>S. aureus </em>isolated from companion and wild birds in Iran.<br /> <strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>The aim of this study was to determine drug resistance and random-amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD-PCR) pattern of <em>S. </em><em>aureus </em>isolated from birds referred to the pet birds' clinic of University of Tehran.<br /> <strong>METHODS: </strong>During the study period, 53 isolates of <em>S. </em><em>aureus </em>were recovered from companion birds of var- ious species using standard bacteriologic procedures and the respective drug resistance patterns were deter- mined for a panel of 30 antimicrobial agents by agar disk-diffusion method. RAPD-PCR was performed with two different 10-bp oligonucleotide primers in a duplex-PCR procedure.<br /> <strong>RESULTS: </strong>The findings of this study demonstrated that <em>S. aureus </em>resistance to oxacillin, clindamycin and methicillin were 58, 53 and 53%, respectively. The multi-drug resistance (MDR) was found among all isolates. The MDR pattern was variable and ranged from 0 to 17 drugs. In total, all 53 isolates generated 43 different resistance patterns. In RAPD-PCR, five different patterns of A, B, C, D and E were found. Among 53 isolates, 20, 62, 3, 9 and 3% belonged to RAPD patterns of A, B, C, D and E, respectively.<br /> <strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>This study showed the widespread antimicrobial resistance among <em>S. aureus </em>isolated from pet birds; in particular, the presence of MRSA isolates. The value of RAPD-PCR for epidemiologic monitoring of <em>S. </em><em>aureus </em>in pet birds also was noticed.<br />