Staphylococcus bacteria are among the main agents of ovine mastitis. One of the greatest barriers to treatment of sick animals are strains resistant to antimicrobial agents. The research of the mecA gene in staphylococci is an auxiliary tool for the determination of epidemiological aspects of disease. The present study aimed to investigate oxacillin resistance in coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated in the milk from ewes with subclinical mastitis. A total of 448 samples from 2 flocks were analyzed. Colonies were previously submitted to testing for susceptibility to antibiotics in-vitro using the technique of disk diffusion. Using the oxacillin-resistant strains in these tests, the research of mecA gene was conducted with the extraction of chromosomal DNA by way of the technique of phenol-chloroform extraction. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were resistant to oxacillin, and the mecA gene was detected in 4 isolates, which also showed characteristics of multidrug resistance. These findings reinforce the importance of these microorganisms in the etiology of subclinical mastitis in ewes, and open perspectives for future research to investigate the epidemiology of this disease.
Staphylococcus spp; milk; mecA gene; resistance