A REVIEW ON FOOD BORNE ILLNESS CAUSED BY STAPHYLOCOCCAL AUREUS

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that may produce a variety of toxins causing food poisoning and various infections in animals and humans. Food poisoning due to bacterial toxins can caused by the ingestion of exotoxins, which are preformed in the food, or by the ingestion of food contain large numbers of bacterial cells which then release endotoxins in the gastrointestinal tract. The pathogenic microorganism of public health importance that may be transmitted through contaminated food. Due to its multidrug resistance and virulence, staphylococcus aureus has become a major concern to public health and food safety in many countries. Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning is caused by the ingestion of food containing enterotoxins produced by some strains of staphylococcus aureus. Hemolysis is one of the virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus. It is said that staphylococcus aureus may produce three hemolysin designated as Alpha, Beta, Gamma. Staphylococcus is a very common organism capable of producing several enterotoxins (SEs) that cause intoxication symptoms of varying intensity in humans when ingested through contaminated food. Genes encoding hemolysin were amplified with specific primers by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The aim of the present review is to obtain the comprehensive understanding of the causes of toxins, a long list of toxin effects and role of hemolysin in the pathogenesis and different biochemical and immunological methods used for detection.