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Prevalence of enterotoxins and toxin gene profiles of S taphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from a bakery involved in a second staphylococcal food poisoning occurrence
Author(s) -
Hait J.,
Tallent S.,
Melka D.,
Keys C.,
Bennett R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/jam.12571
Subject(s) - enterotoxin , staphylococcus aureus , microbiology and biotechnology , food poisoning , biology , outbreak , polymerase chain reaction , toxin , gene , virology , bacteria , genetics , escherichia coli
Aims The study objective was to characterize and analyse the distribution of enterotoxins and genes encoding enterotoxins in S taphylococcus aureus strains recovered from the 601 environment and ingredient samples obtained during multiple inspections of a bakery implicated in two separate staphylococcal food poisoning incidents. Methods and Results S taphylococcus aureus isolates were evaluated using serological assays for identification of classical staphylococcal enterotoxins ( SE s) SEA – SEE and polymerase chain reaction for the detection of newly described SE and SE ‐like enterotoxin genes seg–seu . Pulsed field gel electrophoresis identified thirteen pattern types. During these investigations, a total of 585 environmental swabs and 16 raw ingredient samples were collected by investigators, 85 of which were confirmed to contain S taph. aureus ; of those isolates, 95·3% (81/85) harboured enterotoxin genes and 4·7% (4/85) carried newly described SE and SE ‐like enterotoxin genes in the absence of classical enterotoxins. Conclusions Our research demonstrates the prevalence and diversity of classical SE s and the probable underestimated impact of nonclassical SE and SE ‐like enterotoxins role in domestic staphylococcal food poisoning outbreaks. Significance and Impact of the Study Given the abundance of SE s and SE ‐like toxins, these findings illustrate the utilization of PCR for enterotoxin gene identification and its significance in outbreak investigations.