Lack of staphylococcal enterotoxin production among strains of Staphylococcus aureus from bovine mastitis in Denmark.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE’s) are a group of small exoproteins produced by some strains of The SE’s, designated A to E according to their antigenic specificities, are important causes of food poisoning worldwide. Milk and dairy products are frequently associated with enter-otoxin food poisoning, and it is supposed that infected milk from mastitic animals constitute the main source of enterotoxigenic of animal origin ( 1983, 1990, 1989). Indeed, is the most common cause of bovine mastitis worldwide, and if mastitis strains produce SE this makes up an enormous reservoir of potential enterotoxin producers. The production of SE by isolated from bovine mastitis have been investigated in several countries ( 1993, 1993, 1970, 1992, 1981, 1980, 1980, 1986, 1985). Since no studies have been performed on the prevalence of enterotoxigenic strains of isolated from bovine mastitis in Denmark, a well characterized collection of ( 1995) was investigated with respect to this property.