Small-scale dairy production plays a relevant socioeconomic role contributing to improve food security in low income rural settings, such as semiarid Brazil. Milk is mainly supplied to local communities, either distributed by government programs to schools and day-care units, or commercialized privately to final consumers or cheesemakers. However, there is a lack of information about the potential public health hazards associated with milk. The aim of this study was to investigate antimicrobial resistance phenotypes, the presence of enterotoxin-encoding genes and genotypic relatedness of Staphylococcus spp. from raw milk samples in the semi-arid Paraiba. High antimicrobial resistant rates were observed for beta-lactams, including penicillin, ampicillin and ceftazidime. Although 14% of the isolates were phenotypically resistant to oxacillin, mecA gene was not detected among S. aureus. Almost 50% of the isolates harbored at least one enterotoxin-encoding gene. Higher genotypic relatedness was observed among staphylococci from closely-related farms, suggesting geographic spread of certain strains. In order to prevent potential microbiological risks related to milk consumption in the region, continuous efforts towards the improvement of raw milk quality are encouraged, including good production practices, such as those related to milk refrigeration on the farms and efficient pasteurization.

小型乳制品生产在社会经济方面发挥着重要作用，有助于改善低收入农村地区（如半干旱巴西）的粮食安全。牛奶主要供应给当地社区，或者通过政府计划分发给学校和日托单位，也可以商业化出售给最终消费者或奶酪制造商。但是，缺乏有关与牛奶相关的潜在公共健康危害的信息。这项研究的目的是调查金黄色葡萄球菌的抗菌素耐药表型，肠毒素编码基因的存在和基因型相关性。。从半干旱Paraiba中的原奶样品中提取。观察到包括青霉素，氨苄青霉素和头孢他啶在内的β-内酰胺类药物的耐药率较高。尽管有14％的分离株在表型上对奥沙西林耐药，但在金黄色葡萄球菌中未检测到mec A基因。。分离株中几乎有50％含有至少一种肠毒素编码基因。在密切相关农场的葡萄球菌中观察到较高的基因型相关性，表明某些菌株的地理分布。为了防止与该地区牛奶消费有关的潜在微生物风险，鼓励人们不断努力提高原奶质量，包括良好的生产规范，例如与农场中的牛奶冷藏和有效的巴氏灭菌法有关的规范。