EN
Aim of the study: The study was conducted to determine the incidence of genes encoding emetic staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) in S. aureus isolates from pork and pigs, and to demonstrate the connection between the enterotoxigenic potential of S. aureus and its genetic background. Materials and methods: S. aureus isolates from pork (45 isolates) and pigs (45 isolates), representing various clonal complexes, were tested for the presence of emetic SEs genes. Results and discussion: Thirty-four of the 45 S. aureus isolates (75%) derived from pork were shown to harbor genes encoding emetic SEs. Among 45 pig-derived S. aureus isolates, SE genes were detected in 28 isolates (62%). Fifty-five percent of potentially enterotoxigenic staphylococci carried genes encoding classical toxins (SEA-SEE), whereas 28 isolates (45%) harbored exclusively genes encoding new emetic SEs. The most prevalent (82%) classical enterotoxin gene was seb, whereas seg and sei genes dominated (82%) among isolates harboring genes encoding other emetic toxins. Seventeen of 23 S. aureus isolates assigned to the CC15 clonal complex were found to harbor the seb gene. Ten of 15 CC7 isolates contained the selp gene. Isolates harboring seg and sei genes dominated in CC30 (81%) and CC9 clones (76%). Four isolates assigned to CC398 were shown to harbor enterotoxin genes, such as seb, sed, seg, sei, and ser. Our results indicate a high incidence of enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates harboring genes encoding other emetic SEs in pork and pigs. In most of the pig- and pork-derived isolates studied here, genotype-enterotoxin association was similar to that known from human S. aureus isolates. This is the first report on SE genes in S. aureus CC398 genetic background in Poland, and probably also in Europe.