Occurrence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in raw shellfish at retail markets in Malaysia and antibacterial efficacies of black seed (Nigella sativa) oil against MRSA

Abstract Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a remarkable pathogen which causes nosocomial diseases worldwide. In this study, raw green mussel and cockle samples in Malaysia were collected and investigated for the occurrence of MRSA. A total of 80 samples were analyzed using phenotypic and molecular approaches. A assembling of the most probable number (MPN) with multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) technique was used to identify MRSA in the samples. The occurrences of S. aureus and MRSA in shellfish samples were 15% and 8.75%, respectively, with the microbial load from