Incidences and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Staphylococcus species isolated from animals in different Qatari farms

This study was conducted during a six months period (March to August 2008) at the Veterinary laboratory, Department of Animal Resources, Doha, Qatar to determine the incidence of different bacterial genera farm animals in particular the occurrence ofStaphylococcus species. The samples were from the rectum, milk, feces, nasal, swab of vagina, cloacal - uterin, intestine, liver and pus. Samples were collected from various animals of different regions. A total 318 of 429 samples gave positive results for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and 90 cultures were identified as Staphylococcus. The highest isolates were from camels’ milk and none were obtained from specimens of cats and horses. A total of 33 selected Staphylococcus isolates were identified to species level and the most common isolated was coagulase-positive S. aureus (14), followed by coagulase-negative, S. lentus (10), S. xylosus (5), S. sciuri (2), S. lugdunensis (1) and S. caprae (1). The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of these were determined using cephalothin, gentamycin, neomycin, ampicillin, norfloxacin, penicillin, tetracycline and a combination of trimethoprim and sulphamethoxazole. All identified species were sensitive to cephalothin except one strain of S. aureus. Most of the isolates showed multiple antimicrobial resistance profiles.   Key words: Staphylococcus, farm animals, antibiotic, susceptibility profiles, Qatar.