Atypical Toxigenic Staphylococcus and Non-Staphylococcus aureus Species on the Horizon? An Update†

1996 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 1123-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
REGINALD W. BENNETT

Staphylococcal food poisoning is a commonly reported illness caused by the ingestion of preformed staphylococcal enterotoxin in foods, With some exceptions, enterotoxin production is associated with coagulase-positive rather than coagulase-negative staphylococci. Of the coagulase-positive staphylococcal species, S. aureus was historically thought to be exclusively implicated in human foodborne illness. More recently, however, other coagulase-positive and some coagulase-negative staphylococcal species have been associated with foodborne intoxication, Coagulase activity has been used to indicate pathogenicity of a foodborne isolate, and thermostable nuclease is being suggested as a more reliable indictor of enterotoxigenicity. Evidence suggests that the metabolic expressions that are the bases of the tests may not be reliable indicators of pathogenicity. A more useful approach to determine the pathogenicity of a Staphylococcus species is to test directly for enterotoxigenicity with one of the new rapid methods. None of the conventional ancillary identification tests has been conclusively associated with enterotoxin synthesis. Furthermore, evidence exists that enterotoxin production is a characteristic of several species in the genus Staphylococcus.

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Ljevaković-Musladin ◽  
Marina Vodnica-Martucci ◽  
Marija Krilanović ◽  
Lidija Kozačinski

Staphylococcus aureus is a well-known op¬portunistic pathogen that causes a wide range of acute and chronic diseases in both humans and animals. Staphylococcal food poisoning is just one of many diseases caused by this bacterium. The causative agents are entero¬toxins produced by enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus during its growth in favourable conditions in food. Epidemiological data show that S. aureus is often found in raw milk cheeses and accordingly, cheeses are often implicated in food poisoning outbreaks. Since there are no data on the nature of S. aureus isolated from cheese produced in Croatia, the aim of this study was to determine the occur¬rence, enterotoxin production capability and antimicrobic susceptibility of S. aureus iso¬lates from domestic cheeses produced in the Dubrovnik area. A total of 30 cheese samples were analysed, and 18 samples (60%) were highly contaminated with S. aureus strains. The contamination level ranged from 3.94 to 6.26 log10 cfu/g. Such a high level of contami¬nation was supported by an inappropriate temperature regime above 8°C during market sale. Although highly contaminated, staphy¬lococcal enterotoxins were not detected in any of the cheese samples. A total of 180 coagu¬lase-positive isolates were collected from 18 cheese samples, 175 of which were confirmed as S. aureus by the latex agglutination test. En¬terotoxin production was detected in 35 iso¬lates (20%), and of these 32 isolates produced staphylococcal enterotoxin C. The other three isolates presumably produced enterotoxin E. Antibiotic resistance was detected in 1.1% of isolates and only to mupirocin. However, a full comprehensive conclusion on the nature of S. aureus isolates cannot be achieved with¬out determining its genotype characteristics for the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin genes and molecular typing, to determine the origin of the isolates.


2006 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVIDA S. SMYTH ◽  
JEAN KENNEDY ◽  
JANE TWOHIG ◽  
HELEN MIAJLOVIĆ ◽  
DECLAN BOLTON ◽  
...  

A previous study carried out by the National Food Centre in Dublin on bacterial contamination of Irish domestic refrigeration systems revealed that 41% were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus. One hundred fifty-seven S. aureus isolates were screened by multiplex PCR analysis for the presence of 15 staphylococcal enterotoxin and enterotoxin-like genes (seasee, seg-sei, selj-selo, and selq) and the toxic shock toxin superantigen tst gene. Of the refrigerator isolates, 64.3% possessed more than one staphylococcal enterotoxin or staphylococcal enterotoxin–like gene. All bar one of the 101 staphylococcal enterotoxin or staphylococcal enterotoxin–like gene-positive strains possessed the egc locus bearing the seg, sei, selm, seln, and selo genes. Twelve random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) types accounted for 119 (75.8%) of the strains, two of these types accounting for 25 (RAPD type 1, 15.9%) and 52 (RAPD type 5, 33.1%), respectively. All of the RAPD type 5 isolates possessed the egc gene cluster only. The RAPD type 5 amplicon profile was identical to that of S. aureus isolates associated with osteomyelitis in broiler chickens in Northern Ireland that also possessed the egc locus only. However, the RAPD type 5 domestic refrigerator and chicken isolates differed in penicillin G sensitivity, production of Protein A and staphylokinase, and crystal violet agar growth type. These findings highlight that the average Irish household refrigerator harbors potential enterotoxin-producing S. aureus that may or may not be of animal origin and, accordingly, is a potential reservoir for staphylococcal food poisoning.


1996 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 819-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFAN T. MARTIN ◽  
ROBERT B. BEELMAN

Freshly harvested mushrooms were found to induce a near-anaerobic environment (<2% O2) in unventilated, PVC-overwrapped packages within 2 to 6 h when incubated at 20 to 30°C. Mushrooms were inoculated with an enterotoxigenic strain of Staphylococcus aureus and incubated in overwrapped trays at different temperatures. S. aureus grew and produced staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) in unventilated PVC-overwrapped mushroom packages when inoculated at levels of 103, 104, and 105 CFU/g of mushroom after 4 days of incubation at 30°C. Growth of S. aureus was observed at all levels of inoculation at 25°C, but no SE was detected after 7 days of incubation. When mushroom packages were ventilated, S. aureus growth was suppressed and no SE was detected after 7 days at 25°C and 4 days at 30°C. However, S. aureus growth in ventilated packs exceeded growth in unventilated packages when the incubation temperature was increased to 35°C; SE was detected within 18 h of incubation at this temperature, even in mushrooms inoculated at a low level (102 CFU/g). These results show the extreme importance of proper sanitation and worker hygiene during mushroom harvesting and packaging, ventilation of fresh mushroom packages, and proper storage temperatures for fresh mushrooms at all points of the food chain.


2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 2541-2548 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIN SAN MOON ◽  
AE RI LEE ◽  
SEUNG HYEUP JAW ◽  
HYUN MI KANG ◽  
YI SEOK JOO ◽  
...  

Staphylococcal food poisoning is caused by enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus. We investigated the prevalence of such organisms in samples of bovine mastitic milk (n = 714), raw meat (n = 139), and vegetables (n = 616). We determined the degrees of relatedness of isolates as indicated by antibiogram, staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) productivity, and coagulase gene restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. We examined 297 S. aureus isolates and found SE production in 57 (31.8%), 4 (7.8%), and 49 (73.1%) isolates from raw milk, raw meat, and vegetables, respectively. A high proportion of the isolates obtained from milk produced more than two types of toxins (mainly SEA, SEB, and/or SEC), whereas isolates from raw meat and vegetables primarily produced SEA alone. Most isolates were sensitive to cephalothin (97.6%), gentamicin (80.8%), erythromycin (79.5%), and tetracycline (72.7%), but were resistant to penicillin (90.2%) and ampicillin (88.9%). The proportion of antibiotic-resistant isolates differed according the source of the bacteria; the milk and vegetable isolates were more resistant to penicillin and ampicillin than were the meat isolates (P < 0.05), whereas tetracycline resistance was limited to the milk and vegetables isolates. The coagulase genotypes (I to XII) varied with the source of the organism, and only a few genotypes prevailed in each source: II (42.4%) and IV (24%) types in isolates from milk, IX (35.3%) and XI (45%) from raw meat, and III (40.3%) and XII (32.8%) from vegetables. These findings suggest that remarkable differences exist in antibiogram, SE productivity, and coagulase genotypes, resulting in limited clonal transmission of S. aureus into various food sources. As enterotoxin production only occurs when S. aureus grows to high numbers, staphylococcal food poisoning can be prevented by proper refrigeration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 3669-3671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Chang Cai ◽  
Yan Yan Hu ◽  
Hong Wei Zhou ◽  
Gong-Xiang Chen ◽  
Rong Zhang

ABSTRACTSixcfr-harboring methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) isolates, which belonged to the same clone of sequence type 5 (ST5)-staphylococcal cassette chromosomemecelement II (SCCmecII)-spat311, were investigated in this study. Complete sequencing of acfr-carrying plasmid, pLRSA417, revealed an 8,487-bp fragment containing a Tn4001-like transposon,cfr,orf1, and ISEnfa4. This segment, first identified in an animal plasmid, pSS-01, was observed in several plasmids from clinical coagulase-negative staphylococci in China, suggesting that thecfrgene, which might originate from livestock, was located in the same mobile element and disseminated among different clinical staphylococcal species.


1998 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE VERNOZY-ROZAND ◽  
ANNIE MEYRAND ◽  
CHRISTINE MAZUY ◽  
MARIE-LAURE DELIGNETTE-MULLER ◽  
GUY JAUBERT ◽  
...  

To study the possible presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin A in raw goats' milk lactic cheese, milk was inoculated with an enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus strain to a final concentration of 4, 5 and 6 log(cfu/ml). Cheese was prepared following industrial specifications and ripened for 42 d. Detection of the enterotoxins was by the Vidas Staph enterotoxin test (BioMérieux) and by an indirect double-sandwich ELISA technique using anti-enterotoxin monoclonal antibodies. Staphylococcal counts declined markedly after draining, and by the end of ripening they had disappeared from some cheeses. In contrast, aerobic mesophilic organisms grew well. The level of staphylococcal enterotoxin A recovered varied from 1 to 2·5 ng/g cheese made with an initial population of 105 or 106 cfu/ml. Only traces of enterotoxin A (0·5 ng/g) were detected in cheeses made with the lowest Staph. aureus inoculum used in this study. Enterotoxin A was also detected in cheeses from which Staph. aureus had disappeared.


2012 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 1449-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna Jankovic ◽  
Vesna Djordjevic ◽  
Brankica Lakicevic ◽  
Branka Borovic ◽  
B. Velebit ◽  
...  

Staphylococcal food poisoning is one of the most common foodborne diseases resulting from the ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) preformed in foods by enterotoxigenic strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS), mainly Staphylococcus aureus. The presence of enterotoxigenic strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci in raw milk during the production process leads to the contamination of products and outbreaks of alimentary intoxication. The problem of Staphylococcus aureus in cheese remains significant on a global level. Domestic cheese contaminated with enterotoxigenic staphylococci can result in the formation of enterotoxin, which can produce foodborne illness when the product is ingested. Due to microbiological contamination, microbiological criteria are tools that can be used in assessing the safety and quality of foods. In order to avoid foodborne illness, the Serbian Regulation on General and Special Conditions for Food Hygiene (Official Gazette of RS, No. 72/10) provides microbiological criteria for staphylococcal enterotoxins in dairy products.


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