Detection of the Staphylococcal Toxins

Abstract

The staphylococci are one of the most common of microorganisms and are common inhabitants of most animals. They probably have been around almost since the beginning of time, but were not recognized as important organisms until 1880 when Ogston (1880) demonstrated that they caused many types of purulent infections in humans. Rosenbach (1884) gave them the name Staphylococcus. These organisms formed both yellow and white colonies which were given the names Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus, but later classification by pigmentation was discontinued and all were called S. aureus. A second species, S. epidermidis, was added in 1908 by Winslow and Winslow (1908); the major difference in the two species was that the latter species did not produce coagulase. It was not until 1974 that a third species, S. saprophyticus, was added, and from that time forward the addition of new species proceeded on a regular basis until at this writing 31 species, along with several subspecies, have been identified.