In many countries Staphylococcus aureus is considered to be the second or third most common pathogen causing outbreaks of food poisoning, only outnumbered by Salmonella spp. and in competition with Clostridium perfringens. Often Ž . the consumption of ham or meat containing staphylococcal enterotoxins SE is identified as cause of the illness. Thus, to gain an insight into the prevalence of S. aureus and its emetic enterotoxins in raw pork and uncooked smoked ham and to investigate how the prevalence of the pathogen is influenced during the fabrication process, a total of 135 samples of raw pork, salted meat and ready-for-sale uncooked smoked ham were examined for the prevalence of S. aureus and Ž . staphylococcal enterotoxins A to D SEA-SED . To this means classical cultural methods were employed as well as Ž . molecular biological techniques PCR and the results were compared.In 25.9% of all samples S. aureus was detected by culture whereas 51.1% of the samples showed a positive result when PCR was used for the detection of the pathogen. Fresh meat was contaminated most often. By PCR, 62.2% were identified as being S. aureus positive compared to 57.7% positive samples using the cultural technique. The detection rate during the fabrication process declined significantly. The pathogen was cultivated from 8.9% of the salted meat samples. Here, 55.6% of the samples reacted positively in the PCR, and finally, in approximately a third of the ready-for-sale smoked hams, S. aureus genes were found. From 11.1% of these samples, the pathogen could be isolated by culture. From these results, we conclude that the PCR used in this study is more sensitive than the classical cultural method.By PCR, one or more staphylococcal enterotoxin genes were found in 24 of the 135 examined samples. This means that 34.8% of the staphylococcal strains identified using the PCR technique were enterotoxigenic. Using the SET-RPLA, a percentage of 28.6% enterotoxigenic isolates was ascertained. No staphylococcal enterotoxin formation was detected by the SET-RPLA in ready-for-sale ham, although SE-genes were found by PCR. The detection of SE-genes by PCR is faster and easier to perform than the SET-RPLA. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Experiments were conducted to analyze the equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) gene 68 product which is encoded by the EHV-1 US2 homolog. An antiserum directed against the amino-terminal 206 amino acids of the EHV-1 US2 protein specifically detected a protein with an M r of 34,000 in cells infected with EHV-1 strain RacL11. EHV-1 strain Ab4 encodes a 44,000-M r Us2 protein, whereas vaccine strain RacH, a high-passage derivative of RacL11, encodes a 31,000-M r Us2 polypeptide. Irrespective of its size, the US2 protein was incorporated into virions. The EHV-1 US2 protein localized to membrane and nuclear fractions of RacL11-infected cells and to the envelope fraction of purified virions. To monitor intracellular trafficking of the protein, the green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused to the carboxy terminus of the EHV-1 US2 protein or to a truncated US2 protein lacking a stretch of 16 hydrophobic amino acids at the extreme amino terminus. Both fusion proteins were detected at the plasma membrane and accumulated in the vicinity of nuclei of transfected cells. However, trafficking of either GFP fusion protein through the secretory pathway could not be demonstrated, and the EHV-1 US2 protein lacked detectable N- and O-linked carbohydrates. Consistent with the presence of the US2 protein in the viral envelope and plasma membrane of infected cells, a US2-negative RacL11 mutant (L11ΔUS2) exhibited delayed penetration kinetics and produced smaller plaques compared with either wild-type RacL11 or a US2-repaired virus. After infection of BALB/c mice with L11ΔUS2, reduced pathogenicity compared with the parental RacL11 virus and the repaired virus was observed. It is concluded that the EHV-1 US2 protein modulates virus entry and cell-to-cell spread and appears to support sustained EHV-1 replication in vivo.