[Distribution of enterotoxinogenic strains among Staphylococcus aureus isolated from various sources]

A total of 406 S. aureus strains isolated from wound and mammal secretions in patients with wound infections and mastitis, from the throat of healthy children and those with respiratory disease, as well as during an outbreak of alimentary toxicoinfection, were studied. The capacity of these strains for the production of enterotoxins A, B, C, D, E, as well as the phage groups and phage types of these strains were determined. 34.2% of the strains were enterotoxigenic; the occurrence of this characteristic in staphylococci did not depend on the source of their isolation, but correlated with the results of their phage typing. Enterotoxigenic strains were detected most frequently (56.5--68.0%) in phage groups III, I/III and among staphylococci lyzed by additional phages (Nos. 88--96). Almost half of these strains produced enterotoxin A, each of other enterotoxins was produced by 12--14% of the strains. The isolated from the patients were found to produce mostly enterotoxins A and D, and those from healthy persons B and C. The relatively frequent production of enterotoxin D was found to be characteristic of staphylococci belonging to epidemic phagotype 80/81 isolated in mastitis.