Detection of enterotoxin genes of Staphylococcus sp isolated from nasal cavities and hands of food handlers

• Autor(a) principal: Rall,V.L.M.
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Sforcin,J.M., Augustini,V.C.M., Watanabe,M.T., Fernandes Jr.,A., Rall,R., Silva,M.G., Araújo Jr.,J.P
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1517-83822010000100011
• topic: Staphylococcal enterotoxins; coagulase-negative staphylococci; S. aureus; food handler

Food handlers, an important factor in food quality, may contain bacteria that are able to cause foodborne disease. The present study aimed to research coagulase-negative (CNS) and -positive staphylococci (CPS) in 82 food handlers, analyzing nasal and hand swabs, with identification of 62 CNS (75.6%) and 20 CPS strains (24.4%). Staphylococcal enterotoxins genes were investigated by PCR. In 20 CPS strains, 19 were positive for one or more genes. The percentage of CNS presenting genes for enterotoxins was high (46.8%). Despite of the staphylococcal species, the most common gene was sea (35.4%), followed by seh and sej (29.2%). The detection of new staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) genes showed a higher pathogenic potential in this genus. The presence of these gene points out the importance of CNS not only as contaminant bacteria but also as a pathogen.