Isolation and identification of Staphylococcus hyicus.

A selective medium for the isolation of Staphylococcus hyicus, with potassium thiocyanate as selective substance and the polysorbate 80 reaction as elective marker, was developed. The organism could be identified during the routine examination of samples derived from pigs, using 2 relatively simple tests: the slide coagulase (clumping factor) and the deoxyribonuclease plate reaction. The S hyicus was isolated from 54% of 684 samples collected from nares, external ears, and skin covering the nose of pigs not affected by exudative epidermatitis. Isolates from these animals did not appear to differ in pathogenic potentials from those obtained from lesions.