Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding author. Phone: 33 1 49 77 46 Fax: 33 1 49 77 46 E-mail: ja. Staphylococcal poisoning is a common food-borne disease for which immunoassays to detect enterotoxins were developed, but these assays often lead to false diagnoses due to interferences or lack of specificity.
Absolute quantitative mass spectrometry was for the first time successfully applied to an investigation of a staphylococcal outbreak due to coconut pearls.
Staphylococcal food poisoning SFP is one of the most common food-borne diseases 12 , 15 , 16 , resulting from ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins SEs produced in food by enterotoxigenic strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci CPS , mainly Staphylococcus aureus Most cattle carry staphylococci on their skin and mucous membranes, which can contaminate animal-derived products. Until recently, SEs were hardly distinguishable from food proteins, as SEs are small to kDa proteins without any physicochemical particularities.
Their detection was possible only by immunoassay-based methods, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA. Very recently, a mass spectrometry MS -based method enabling the detection and absolute quantification of SEA was developed 8.
Out of 14 exposed people, 11 experienced nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea 2 to 7 hours after consumption of meals. One food sample from each outbreak was subjected to CPS counting, and isolated strains were analyzed by biotyping, pulsotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and PCR targeting genes sea to sej and 23S rRNA The isolates were identified as S. They harbored a human biotype, an undistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profile data not shown , and a sea , sed , and sej gene pattern, and the RT-PCR proved the expression of sea , sed , and sej mRNA.
