Characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine mastitic milk: bacteriophage and antimicrobial agent susceptibility, and enterotoxigenicity.

Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine mastitic milk in Trinidad were examined for their susceptibility to bacteriophages and antimicrobial agents and their ability to produce enterotoxins. Phage 42D was used to screen for bovine strains of S. aureus in milk. Of 250 strains tested, 224 (89.6%) were sensitive to phages in the international phage set (IPS), 85 (34.0%) were resistant to antimicrobial agents and 134 (53.6%) were enterotoxigenic. Strains lysed by phages in various groups (mixed) were prevalent, 145 (58.0%), followed by strains sensitive to groups III (17.0%) and I (8.8%) phages. A total of 72 (28.8%) strains were lysed by phage 42D either alone or with others. Resistance to penicillin was most common with 59 (23.6%) strains while 44 (17.6%) and 43 (17.2%) strains were resistant to ampicillin and triple sulphur respectively. Only 3 (1.2%) strains were resistant to methicillin. Prevalence of resistance to penicillin (12.5%) amongst phage 42D-sensitive strains was significantly (P < or = 0.01; X2) lower than for strains not lysed by phage 42D (28.1%) but strains susceptible to phage 42D were significantly (P < or = 0.05; X2) more resistant (4.2%) to methicillin than those not lysed by the phage (0.0%). Amongst 134 enterotoxigenic strains, 32 (23.9%), 77 (57.5%), 67 (50.0%) and 21 (15.7%) produced staphylococcal enterotoxins A(SEA), B(SEB), C(SEC) and D(SED) respectively either alone or mixed. SEB and SEC were significantly (P < or = 0.01; X2) more produced than either SEA or SED. Strains lysed by groups IV, i.e. 42D (62.5%), and III (56.7%) were more enterotoxigenic than those sensitive to phages in groups II (45.5%) and non-typable (46.2%) but the differences were not statistically significant (P > or = 0.05; X2). Strains lysed by group II phages (72.7%) were significantly (P < or = 0.05; X2) more resistant to antimicrobial agents than those lysed by phage 42D (18.8%). It was concluded that bovine mastitis strains of S. aureus in Trinidad were highly susceptible to bacteriophages and antimicrobial agents and enterotoxigenic and less than one-third may be considered to be bovine strains.