Enterotoxigenicity of Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from Chickens

Abstract

To determine whether Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from chickens were potential causes of human intoxications, 586 strains from diseased and healthy chickens obtained from 52 farms in several districts of Japan were examined. Of these, 16 strains produced staphylococcal enterotoxins. One-half of the enterotoxigenic strains were isolated from diseased chickens exclusively suffering from vesicular dermatitis, and another half were from healthy chickens. The enterotoxin types D and C were dominant in the strains from diseased and healthy chickens, respectively. The enterotoxigenic strains differed from the nonenterotoxigenic strains in several of their biochemical properties, and in their susceptibility to International human phages, and insusceptibility to Shimizu's avian phages group I which lyse most of the staphylococci of chicken origin. These differences may suggest that the enterotoxigenic strains of chicken origin were proper to humans but not to chickens.