Evaluation of S. aureus serotyping method.

This study describes the reproducibility of antigen detection in staphylococci, and the discriminating capacity of the serotyping method. The reproducibility of the antigen detection in staphylococci has been studied by multiple determination of the antigenic formula of 700 wild strains. The discriminating capacity of the serotyping method has been estimated on 415 strains selected to exclude strains from the same origin. Good reproducibility (over 80%) is obtained for the detection of 12 antigens; improvement of the method for the others is under way. The method is highly discriminative; only 1.4% of strains are not typable. 90.8% of strains can be classified in one of the 6 groups identified by a major antigen; groups A, D and E are the most important under our ecological conditions.