Identification and prevalence of an enterotoxin-related gene, se-int, in Staphylococcus intermedius isolates from dogs and pigeons.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus intermedius in dogs and pigeons.


RESULTS
A total of 106 S. intermedius isolates from 44 dogs and 62 pigeons were tested for the production of enterotoxins A, B, C and D by reverse passive latex agglutination (RPLA) and for sec-canine by PCR. Only one isolate from dog was positive for SEC and sec-canine. Screening of sec-canine-negative strains by nested PCR led to the identification of a novel enterotoxin-related gene, se-int. SE-int showed a significant homology (59-61% identity) with SEC and (56.6% identity) SEB. All 44 isolates from dogs and five isolates (8.1%) from pigeons were se-int positive.


CONCLUSIONS
While S. intermedius was isolated more frequently from pigeons than from dogs, se-int was more prevalent among the S. intermedius isolates from dogs, compared with the pigeon isolates.


CONCLUSIONS
Further characterization of the se-int-positive S. intermedius strains should clarify their pathogenic potential including enterotoxigenicity and zoonotic transmissibility to human beings.
Futagawa-Saito
K
K
Department of Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. saitohk@azabu-u.ac.jp
Suzuki
M
M
Ohsawa
M
M
Ohshima
S
S
Sakurai
N
N
Ba-Thein
W
W
Fukuyasu
T
T
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D010856:Columbidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs / Q000382:microbiology*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
D004768:Enterotoxins