Differentiation between high and low virulence Staphylococcus aureus strains from rabbits by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) typing was performed on 53 rabbit Staphylococcus aureus strains. Twenty-three strains isolated in 13 differe nt rabbitries with chronic problems of staphylococcosis, showed the same RA PD banding pattern. Twenty of these strains belonged to the 'mixed CV-C' bi otype and to the phage-type 3A/3C/55/71, previously described to be highly virulent in rabbits, and three strains belonged to other biotypes or phage- types. None of the strains isolated from rabbitries without chronic problem s of staphylococcosis showed this specific RAPD pattern. RAPD analysis can be used as a rapid and reliable test method to differentiate between the ch aracteristic genotype corresponding to high virulence and other S. aureus s trains from rabbits. This is useful for the diagnosis and prevention of the introduction of these highly virulent strains in industrial rabbitries. (C ) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.