Demonstration of Serologically Different Capsular Types Among Strains of Staphylococcus aureus by the Serum-Soft Agar Technique.
Colonies of Staphylococcus aureus exhibiting diffuse-type growth in regular serum-soft agar containing 7.5% sodium chloride were isolated. After isolation, further identification of the encapsulated strains of S. aureus was performed. With this procedure, 19 encapsulated strains were obtained from 103 clinical specimens (18.4%). With these strains, three serologically distinct diffuse types of organisms were observed by the conversion of diffuse to compact type colonial morphology in serum-soft agar containing specific antidiffuse sera. Capsule-inhibiting activity of antisera was adsorbable with homologous encapsulated organisms and not adsorbed with either heterologous encapsulated organisms nor the derived compact variant, suggesting a specific activity for the antispecific capsular antibody. Fourteen strains were similar to the Smith diffuse-type strain, four strains were the same as NS58D, and one was identical to NS41D. These were provisionally designated as capsule types A, B, and C, respectively.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Nippon Medical School, 113, Tokyo, Japan.
K
K
Yoshida