Enterotoxigenic coagulase positive Staphylococcus in milk and milk products, lben and jben, in northern Morocco.
BACKGROUND The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence of enterotoxin genes (sea seo) in Coagulase Positive Staphylococcus (CPS) isolated from unpasteurized milk and milk products. These results were compared with the results obtained by using the detection kit SET RPLA for the specific detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEA SED) METHODOLOGY Eighty one samples of milk and milk products were analyzed for the presence of Staphylococcus strains. Forty six coagulase positive Staphylococcus isolates were tested for the production of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEA SED) by using the reversed passive latex agglutination method. The strains were also tested for the presence of se genes (sea seo) by polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS One or more classical enterotoxin products (SEA SED) were observed in 39% of the strains tested, while se genes were detected in 56.5% SEA and sea were most commonly detected. For newly discovered se genes among CPS isolates tested in this study, except the seh gene which was revealed in four isolates (8.7 none of the strains harbored any of the other se genes (see, seg, sei, sej, sek, sel, sem, seo and sen) CONCLUSIONS The finding of a pathogen such as staphylococci producing SEs and containing se genes in milk and milk products in northern Morocco may indicate a problem for public health in this region. The presence of enterotoxigenic strains in food does not always necessarily mean that the toxin will be produced. For that reason, the combination of both methods (RPLA and PCR) is a guarantee for success in diagnostic analysis tests.
Journal of infection in developing countries