Objectives: Staphylococcus
aureus is an important pathogen associated with diseases in a variety of hosts
including humans. It produces several toxins and virulence factors that
contribute to its pathogenic potential such as staphylococcal enterotoxins
(SEs). This study was conducted to determine enterotoxigenicity of S. aureus
associated with chronic urogenital tract infection by detectingenterotoxin
genes.
Setting: This study was done in The Microbiology
laboratory, An-Najah N. University, Palestine.
Methodology: A total of 90 S. aureus isolates recovered
from clinical samples from patients suffering from chronic urogenital tract
infection in the North of Palestine were used to detect the presence of
staphylococcal enterotoxin genes sea, seb, sec, sed
and see by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.
Results: Out of 90 S. aureus isolates
tested, it was found that 57 (63.3%) of these isolates harboured one or more
enterotoxin genes. Up to 78.9% of the enterotoxigenic isolates possessed one SE
gene. The majority of these enterotoxigenic strains (61.4%) isolated from both
semen and urine samples harbored sec gene either alone or in combination
with other genes. Also the prevalence of genes in combination was significantly
more common in S. aureus isolates derived from urine 9/33
(27.3%), as compared to those derived from semen 3/24 (12.5%).
Conclusions: The role of enterotoxin genes in the pathogenesis of
urogenital tract infection is still unknown. However, it is evident that
urogenital infection can be caused by S. aureus strains which lack these
genes. Other newly detected genes may play a role in pathogenesis.