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Differentiation between high and low virulence Staphylococcus aureus strains from rabbits by randomly amplified
K Hermans1, F Haesebrouck, M Vaneechoutte
1Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ghent, Salisburylaan 133, 9820, Merelbeke, Belgium. katleen.hermans@rug.ac.be
Abstract:
Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) typing was performed on 53 rabbit Staphylococcus aureus strains. Twenty-three strains isolated in 13 different rabbitries with chronic problems of staphylococcosis, showed the same RAPD banding pattern. Twenty of these strains belonged to the 'mixed CV-C' biotype and to the phage-type 3A/3C/55/71, previously described to be highly virulent in rabbits, and three strains belonged to other biotypes or phage-types. None of the strains isolated from rabbitries without chronic problems of staphylococcosis showed this specific RAPD pattern. RAPD analysis can be used as a rapid and reliable test method to differentiate between the characteristic genotype corresponding to high virulence and other S. aureus strains from rabbits. This is useful for the diagnosis and prevention of the introduction of these highly virulent strains in industrial rabbitries.