A comparative study of bacteriophage, serological and enzymic typing of Staphylococcus aureus

The presently accepted method for marking individual strains of Staphylococcus aureus for epidemiological investigation is bacteriophage typing. However, phage typing is not a stable marker and many strains cannot be successfully typed. Serological typing is not readily available and preparation of sera is difficult. The aminopeptidase profile method described by Krawezyk and Huber was used to mark strains of S. aureus. Profiles were constructed diagramming the percent hydrolysis of 22 beta-naphthylamide substrates by 15 isolates of S. aureus. The aminopeptidase profiles (APP) were thought to be more complete in marking individual strains of S. aureus when compared to bacteriophage and serological typing. Thusly, this method has applicability in the clinical laboratory for epidemiological investigation of S. aureus.