DETECTION OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS ENTEROTOXIN TYPE C ISOLATED FROM HEALTHY CARRIERS BY PCR

Background and Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen which can cause food poisoning, under certain conditions though growth in nutrients and producing enterotoxin. Only some strains are capable of producing enterotoxin and causing food poisoning and their presence can be detected by DNA amplification and gene sequence specification. Therefore, this research was conducted to detect type e enterotoxin producing staphylococcus aureus. Methods and Materials: 95 staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated from 150 nasal carriers using sterilized swabs and were confirmed by biochemical tests. Then primers were designed and the PCR was used to amplify amplify the staphylococcal enterotoxin e gene (sec) in order to detect type C enterotoxogenic strains. DNA amplification fragments of 397 bp for staphylococcal nuclease and those of 271 bp for type e gene were confirmed by enzymatic digestion. Only 9.5% of the isolated strains contained sec gene. Specificity and sensitivity were also evaluated and its sensitivity was found to be 125 cells. this technique is a rapid, sensitive, specific, inexpensive and different alternative to conventional biochemical and serologic assays and it can be used to detect the agent producing type C staphylococcal enterotoxin.