Isolation of bacteriophages for typing staphylococcus intermedius isolated from pigeons

Attempts to isolate phages for typing Staphylococcus intermedius isolated from pigeons were made. Five phages were isolated from the lysogenic strains and the nostrils of pigeons, and were used for typing 50 strains isolated from pigeons in Japan, Belgium and Czechoslovakia. Thirty-one (62.0%) of the 50 strains were typed at either routine test dilution (RTD) or 100 X RTD into 8 phage patterns. A total of 122 strains of S. intermedius isolated from dogs, horses, mink and foxes were subjected to phage typing with pigeon phages, with the result that 10 (8.2%) of the 122 strains were typable. S. aureus and S. epidermidis, 59 and 58 strains, respectively, were resistant to lysis due to the pigeon phages. The experimental phages were considerably specific for S. intermedius isolated from pigeons.