Abstract
The goal of this research was to find out Staphylococcus aureus incidence in sixty samples of some salted fish (salted sardine, Feseikh, and Molouha) obtained from random places in Kafrelsheikh Governorate as well as the prevalence rate of MRSA (mecA gene) in relation to enterotoxin production (Sea, Seb, Sec, Sed) by using PCR techniques. Furthermore, studying the relationship between salt content and the occurrence of Staph. aureus. Overall, coagulase positive Staph. aureus was identified in 30, 20, and 10% of salted sardine, feseikh, and molouha samples, with mean values of 3.05± 1.73, 3.45± 2.14 and 2.64± 1.39 (log 10) cfu/g, respectively. The mec A gene was identified by PCR in all coagulase positive Staph. aureus isolates (12 isolate), otherwise Sea gene wasn't detected in any of the positive MRSA isolates, Seb and Sec genes were found in 33.33% (each) of MRSA strains from salted sardine samples and 25% (each) of MRSA isolates from feseikh samples, and only one isolate (50%) from the molouha samples contained Sed gene. The salt content of the examined molouha samples were noticeably different (P< 0.05) from the other examined samples, whereas, between salted sardine and feseikh samples there was no statistically significant difference (P< 0.05), and inverse relationship was found between salt content and the prevalence of Staph. aureus. The presence of MRSA with staphylococcal enterotoxigenic genes in salted fish could be regarded as providing a health risk to consumers. Therefore, a significant effort should be made to maintain hygienic conditions in the processing, preparation, and handling of fish products to keep contamination to a minimum.

Key words: salted fish, MRSA, mecA gene, staphylococcal enterotoxigenic genes, salt content.