Authors: Sakai, Fumihiko¹; Ihara, Hideshi²; Aoyama, Kenji¹; Igarashi, Hideo¹; Yanahira, Shuichi¹; Ohkubo, Tatsuro¹; Asao, Tsutomu³; Kozaki, Shunji

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 71, Number 9, September 2008 , pp. 1855-1860(6)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

Abstract:

Staphylococcal enterotoxin H (SEH) is predicted to be involved in staphylococcal food poisoning. To characterize SEHproducing Staphylococcus aureus isolates from staphylococcal food poisoning cases in Japan, we investigated the relationship between SEH production and coagulase serotype, which is an epidemiological marker, and compared the properties of SEH production with those of staphylococcal enterotoxins A (SEA) and B (SEB). SEH production was determined by a newly developed sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Eighty-six (59.7%) of 144 isolates from staphylococcal food poisoning cases produced SEH. Seventy-one of the SEH-producing isolates simultaneously produced SEA, SEB, or both. All SEH-producing isolates belonged to coagulase type VII, which was the predominant type, representing 99 (68.8%) of 144 isolates. The amount of SEH produced in brain heart infusion was almost the same as the amount of SEA and approximately 10-fold lower than that of SEB. SEH and SEA were produced mainly during the late exponential phase of growth, whereas SEB was produced mostly during the stationary phase. The production levels of SEH and SEA were gradually affected by decreases in water activity, but the production of SEB was greatly reduced under conditions of low water activity. These findings indicate that SEH-producing S. aureus isolates are of high prevalence in staphylococcal food poisoning cases. Given the unique epidemiological characteristic of these isolates, SEH and SEA probably are responsible for food poisoning.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Food Hygiene, Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd., Kawagoe, Saitama 350-1165, Japan 2: Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, and 4 Department of Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan 3: Osaka Prefecture Institute of Public Health, Higashinari-ku, Osaka 537-0025, Japan

Publication date: 2008-09-01

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