Characterization of hemolysins of Staphylococcus strains isolated from human and bovine

Abstract

Summary The staphylococci are important pathogenic bacteria causing various infections in animals and human. Hemolysin is one of the virulence factors of coagulase-positive (CPS) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). The aims of the study were to characterize hemolysins of Staphylococcus spp. isolated from human and bovine origin, phenotypic-and genotypically. Characterization of hemolysin phenotypically based on hemolysis pattern of Staphylococcus spp. was done on the sheep, horse and rabbit blood agar plates. Genes encoding hemolysin were amplified with specific primers by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Hemolytic activities phenotypically were determined in 60 and 90% of the total bovine and human isolates, respectively. All non hemolytic isolates were CNS (P≤0.05). In all isolates, hla and hld genes were determined by PCR amplification. None of the bovine and human isolates showed phenotypically and genotypically gamma hemolysin. The results from this study suggest that, in accordance with what is generally believed, some differences are apparent in hemolysin types among Staphylococcus strains of bovine and human origin. Furthermore, this study showed that CNS can be important as new pathogens