Abstract
During the period from January to June in 1998, a total of 180 raw meat samples comprising 100 chicken and 80 pork samples purchased from a supermarket in Hyogo Prefecture were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. It was found that 70 (70%) chicken and 29 (36.3%) pork samples were contaminated with S. aureus.
Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was applied for epidemiological analysis of the isolates. Seventy chicken isolates produced 15 (A-O) different patterns. Various genotypes of S. aureus were found in the chicken. Twenty-nine pork isolates produced 3 (A, P, Q) patterns. Interestingly, S. aureus showing the same pattern A was detected most frequently in both the chicken (n=18) and the pork (n= 24). In addition, pattern A was isolated repeatedly from the chicken and pork throughout the investigation.
Eight (11.4%) of 70 chicken isolates produced enterotoxins A (n=5), B (n=1) and C (n=2). Four (13.8%) of 29 pork isolates produced only enterotoxin B.
Sixty-three (90%) of 70 chicken isolates and 27 (93.1%) of 29 pork isolates were typable with eight coagulase-typing antisera. The most predominant coagulase types in chicken and pork isolates were types II (n=25) and V (n=21), and type V (n=21), respectively.
