Abstract
Milk samples from 251 nursing mothers were screened for enterotoxigenic staphylococci. The incidence of staphylococci in milk samples was 71.3%. Two hundred and sixteen strains were isolated from 179 mothers. Eighty-six (39.8%) of the 216 strains were found to be toxigenic. Enterotoxin type A (SEA) predominated, with 41 strains (19.0%) elaborating it. Twenty-one strains (9.7%) produced enterotoxin B (SEB) while only eight (3.7%) produced enterotoxin C (SEC). Ten strains (4.6%) produced all three types. Enterotoxigenic strains usually produced coagulase, thermonuclease and alpha haemolysin. In this series breast-feeding alone was more common than combined breast and bottle feeding, especially among mothers less than 30 years old. The incidence of reported infantile diarrhoea decreased with increasing age of the mother. Of 16 babies with diarrhoea, 10 (62.5%) had mothers whose milk yielded staphylococci. Six of these were toxigenic. Although no direct relationship between enterotoxigenic staphylococci in the milk of nursing mothers and infantile diarrhoea could be demonstrated, these findings reveal a potential health risk to these infants.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Burbianka M., Dluzniewska I. Gronkowce enterotoksyczne i enterotoksyna w mleku kobiecym. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig. 1971;22(5):537–544. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- CASMAN E. P., BENNETT R. W. DETECTION OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL ENTEROTOXIN IN FOOD. Appl Microbiol. 1965 Mar;13:181–189. doi: 10.1128/am.13.2.181-189.1965. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Casman E. P. Staphylococcal enterotoxin. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1965 Jul 23;128(1):124–131. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb11634.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- ELEK S. D., LEVY E. Distribution of haemolysins in pathogenic and non-pathogenic staphylococci. J Pathol Bacteriol. 1950 Oct;62(4):541–554. doi: 10.1002/path.1700620405. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- EVANS J. B., BUETTNER L. G., NIVEN C. F., Jr Evaluation of the coagulase test in the study of staphylococci associated with food poisoning. J Bacteriol. 1950 Oct;60(4):481–484. doi: 10.1128/jb.60.4.481-484.1950. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hájek V., Marsálek E. A study of staphylococci of bovine origin Staphylococcus aureus var. bovis. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig. 1969 Jan;209(2):154–160. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lachica R. V., Genigeorgis C., Hoeprich P. D. Metachromatic agar-diffusion methods for detecting staphylococcal nuclease activity. Appl Microbiol. 1971 Apr;21(4):585–587. doi: 10.1128/am.21.4.585-587.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robbins R., Gould S., Bergdoll M. Detecting the enterotoxigenicity of Staphylococcus aureus strains. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Dec;28(6):946–950. doi: 10.1128/am.28.6.946-950.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Victor R., Lachica F., Weiss K. F., Deibel R. H. Relationships among coagulase, enterotoxin, and heat-stable deoxyribonuclease production by Staphylococcus aureus. Appl Microbiol. 1969 Jul;18(1):126–127. doi: 10.1128/am.18.1.126-127.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zak C., Jeljaszewicz J., Stochmal I. Serological types of enterotoxins produced by strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from feces. Contrib Microbiol Immunol. 1973;1:526–528. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]