[Origin of the staphylococci in slaughtered poultry].

Studied were 382 coagulase-positive and 290 coagullase-negative Staphylococcus strains isolated from birds during their post-slaughter handling, from the vats for water cooling as well as from the women working on the slaughter-house conveyor. Studied were the phage behaviour, fibrinolysine production, the crystal-violet test and the type of hemolysines. It was established that the coagulase positive staphylococci were lysed slightly by the human and the bovine set of phages. The main sources of staphylococci of both human and bovine origin appeared to be the nasal cavity and the hands of workers. Evisceration proved to contribute to the tenfold higher count of staphylococci in the slaughtered birds. Most of the investigated strains of Staphilococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis differed from the human and the bovine type and were probably staphylococci of avian origin.