Occurrence of enterotoxin genes and macrorestriction analysis of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis and bulk-tank milk samples in Italy. An epidemiological study

Abstract

The goal of the study was to genotypically compare S. aureus isolates from mastitis milk and raw milk to identify therelation between strains and to assess the enterotoxigenicity of the isolates. Eighty-three Staphylococcus aureus isolatesrecovered from cows and bulk tank milk of five farms in northern Italy were compared genotypically. The genes for theenterotoxins A, D, G and I, but not for B, C, E and H and the toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), were detected byPCR amplification. Macrorestriction analysis with the restrictions enzyme SmaI revealed 14 pulsed-field gel electrophoresispatterns. These were in part different from each other only in a few fragments and thus displayed a closeclonal relation. The results of the present investigation showed that identical or closely related clones seemed to beresponsible for the cases of bovine mastitis in the farms investigated and partly responsible for contamination of bulktank milk.

Keywords

• Staphylococcus aureus, Milk, Enterotoxins, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis