Enterotoxigenicity ofStaphylococcus aureusIsolates from Bulk and Individual Cow Milks

Abstract

Individual milk samples from 221 cows in 12 herds and bulk milk samples from 97 herds wereexamined forStaphylococcus aureus.S.aureuswas isolated from bulk milk samples of 12 farms (12.4%) by direct culture and from additional 8 farms (8.2%) by enrichment culture, while from 20 (9.0%) individual milks from 4 of 5 herds where S.aureuswas isolated from bulk milk samples and 2 of 7 where it was not isolated. Enterotoxigenicity was detected in 8 isolates, and 3, 4 and 1 of them were of types SEA, SEB and SEA-ESEB, respectively. The results suggested that bulk milk culture might be indicative of microbial pollution of thedairy herd.