Studies of Group Agglutinogens of Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

THE serological differentiation of staphylococci has been the subject of many investigations since the preliminary work of Cowan¹ which divided coagulase-positive staphylococci into three main groups according to slide agglutination reactions with adsorbed antisera. Most of the serological reagents appear to be active against various type-specific antigens, and strains are usually classified according to a pattern of reactions. Recently, Haukenes demonstrated that a number of antisera in Oeding's serological typing system² were actually complexes of different antibodies^3–6. Moreover, by small changes in the adsorption schemes, Haukenes has succeeded in preparing some 15 or 20 serological reagents, most of which are useful for typing staphylococci.