Staphylococcal Infection in Meat Animals and Meat Workers

An outbreak of boils and carbuncles among workers in a poultry-processing plant in 1956 in Seattle, Wash., and the findings of investigations of several outbreaks of food poisoning in the community in recent years suggested that considerable staphylococcal disease may derive from nonhuman reservoirs of infection. To explore this possibility, an investigation of staphylococcal disease of meat animals and meat workers was undertaken in 1960. Histories of suppurative illness and swab specimens of skin lesions (when present) and nostrils (routinely) were obtained from 318 meat workers in 15 meat-handling establishments in Seattle. These workers reported 124 episodes of "septicemia," an attack rate of 34 per 1,000 worker-years. Many of them stated that pork bone lacerations seemed more likely to become infected than lacerations from other causes. Coagulase-positive staphylococci were obtained from the nostrils of 102 (32 percent) of the 318 workers. A considerable variety of staphylococci were isolated from lesions of meat animals and meat workers. But type 80/81 staphylococcus, which was isolated from lesions of four workers, was not isolated from any of the animal lesions. From these and other findings reported in the literature, we suggest that type 80/81 staphylococcus is primarily a human pathogen, with unique pathogenic and especially mammopathic qualities, and that its relationship to other staphylococci and man may be somewhat analogous to that of Salmonella typhi to other Salmonella and man. Conversely, certain other types of staphylococci may primarily parasitize certain animal species and humans only secondarily.