Exfoliative toxin production by Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from animals and human beings in Nigeria.

Strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from lesions and apparently healthy animals, human diarrhoea and wounds in Nigeria were phage typed and tested for exfoliative toxin (ET) production using the modified Ouchterlony double diffusion test. Thirty-four (4.0%) of 860 strains tested produced exfoliative toxins A (ETA), B (ETB) or a combination. ETA was produced singly by 91.1% of the toxigenic strains. Twenty-six (3.9%) of 666 animal strains were toxigenic compared to 8 (4.4%) of 194 strains from human beings. Overall, a majority of ET-producing strains were non-typable (58.8%), followed by phage group II strains (17.7%). The detection of a similar frequency of production of ET by strains of S. aureus from animals and non-scalded skin syndrome cases indicates that animals may serve as a reservoir for human infection.