Staphylococcal food poisonings in Tokyo, with special reference to the coagulase types of the isolates.

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from the 391 confirmed cases of staphylococcal food poisonings in Tokyo, in the period 1967-1986, were studied for their coagulase types. Consequently, it was found that all the isolates could be classified into the coagulase types II, III, VI and VII. Namely, the isolates from 54 (13.8%) of 391 outbreaks were typed as type II, 72 (18.4%) as type III, 38 (9.7%) as type VI, and 227 (58.1%) as type VII, respectively. Throughout the investigation, it was found that the outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisonings due to coagulase type VII organisms were remarkably increased since 1975.