Diagnostic Tests for Staphylococcal infection

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Home Diagnostic Testing

These home medical tests may be relevant to Staphylococcal infection:

Cold & Flu: Home Testing:
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Tests and diagnosis discussion for Staphylococcal infection:

FDA Bad Bug Book (Excerpt)

Diagnosis of Human Illness: In the diagnosis of staphylococcal foodborne illness, proper interviews with the victims and gathering and analyzing epidemiologic data are essential. Incriminated foods should be collected and examined for staphylococci. The presence of relatively large numbers of enterotoxigenic staphylococci is good circumstantial evidence that the food contains toxin. The most conclusive test is the linking of an illness with a specific food or in cases where multiple vehicles exist, the detection of the toxin in the food sample(s). In cases where the food may have been treated to kill the staphylococci, as in pasteurization or heating, direct microscopic observation of the food may be an aid in the diagnosis. A number of serological methods for determining the enterotoxigenicity of S. aureus isolated from foods as well as methods for the separation and detection of toxins in foods have been developed and used successfully to aid in the diagnosis of the illness. Phage typing may also be useful when viable staphylococci can be isolated from the incriminated food, from victims, and from suspected carrier such as food handlers. (Source: FDA Bad Bug Book)

FDA Bad Bug Book (Excerpt)

Analysis of Foods: For detecting trace amounts of staphylococcal enterotoxin in foods incriminated in food poisoning, the toxin must be separated from food constituents and concentrated before identification by specific precipitation with antiserum (antienterotoxin) as follows. Two principles are used for the purpose: (1) the selective adsorption of the enterotoxin from an extract of the food onto ion exchange resins and (2) the use of physical and chemical procedures for the selective removal of food constituents from the extract, leaving the enterotoxin(s) in solution. The use of these techniques and concentration of the resulting products (as much as possible) has made it possible to detect small amounts of enterotoxin in food. (Source: FDA Bad Bug Book)