Phage typing of Staphylococcus saprophyticus

Abstract

SUMMARYThis study included 502 staphylococcus strains; Staphylococcus saprophyticus (297 strains) S. cohnii (47), S. xylosu8 (10), S. epidermidi.s (67) and S. aureu.s (81). Mitomycin C induction was performed on 100 isolates of S. saprophyticus and all induced strains were reacted with each other. Twenty-six strains proved to be lysogenic. Phages were propagated and titrated. With 12 of the phages there were three frequent associations, named lytic groups A, B and C, which included 75 % of all typable strains. Typability of the system was 45 % and reproducibility was between 94-2 % and 100%. Phages did not lyse S. aureus and S. epidermidis strains, but they lysed S. saprophyticus and only rare strains of other novobiocin resistant species. Effective S. saprophyticus typing serves ecological purposes and tracing the origin of urinary strains from the skin or mucous membranes. Phage typing in association with plasmid profiling previously described, are anticipated as complementary methods with strong discriminatory power for differentiating among S. saprophyticus strains.

Update on clinical significance of coagulase-negative staphylococci

“…The typeability of S. saprophyticus also has been investigated. Pereira and Melo Cristino (241) were able to type 134 of 297 strains with high reproducibility. However, the phages were not absolutely specific for S. saprophyticus, since they also typed certain strains of S. cohnii and S. xylosus.…”