Evaluation of three rapid tests for identification of Staphylococcus aureus isolated in bovine milk.

In order to develop a routine and rapid method for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine milk, three tests were evaluated with 200 strains isolated from different regions. Tests were performed with colonies isolated from the initial agar plate medium. Clumping factor reations were positive with 93.5% of the strains, beta hemolysin with 76% and protein A with 56% of them. It was found the three tests were never all negative for any particular strain. A scheme for rapid identification is proposed.