The Type Classification of Staphylococcus Aureus: a Comparison of Phage-Typing with Serological Typing

Abstract

A comparison has been made between the bacteriophage and serological methods for identifying types among coagulase-positive staphylococci. In only a few cases was one particular serotype clearly related to a particular phage-type, and in several cases single ‘types’ recognized by one method contained several different ‘types’ when tested by the second method. Nevertheless, when sets of strains isolated in the investigation of epidemics or of the nose and skin carrier state of particular individuals were tested by the two methods, consistent results were obtained: an individual combination of phage-type and serotype appeared to be stable.The principal advantages of phage-typing are the facts that it is able to recognize more types than the serological method, and that the distinctions between the types are based on a greater number of different reactions. The advantages of the serological method are the smaller number of untypable strains and its greater technical simplicity.Thanks are due to Miss Joan Rippon, Ph.D., for assistance in the analysis of the phage-typing results.