An investigation into the prevalence of S aureus on avian feet

The feet of 63 domestic poultry and 37 birds of prey were swabbed and cultured. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 4 X 7 per cent of the former and 10 X 8 per cent of the latter. The recovery of S epidermidis was considerably higher, the organism being cultured from 80 X 9 per cent of poultry and 62 X 1 per cent of birds of prey. The significance of the low S aureus isolation rates is discussed in relation to avian staphylococcal infections and attention is drawn to the importance of the choice of plasma for the coagulase test when identifying S aureus from non-human sources.