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Abstract
One hundred seventy nine clinical equine isolates from the states of Kentucky and Georgia were collected from the years 1990 through 2003. S aureus isolates from several clinical disease presentations were obtained from sites such as uterine, lung, and wound. Isolates were screened for the presence of superantigen (SAg) genes sea-sej, tsst-1, eta, and etb through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Southern Hybridization. One hundred and eight isolates were detected to be positive for SAgs with 48.1% seb, 31.4% tsst-1, 19.4% seh, 19.4% sea, 15.7% sec, 14.8% sei, 7.4% seg, 4.6% eta, 1.9% see, 1.9% sej. Isolates were genetically typed with BOX A PCR. Thirteen clones out of 108 isolates were identified that appeared to be clustered regionally and within a particular specimen group. Statistical analysis indicated seb to be significant with both location (p =. 0003) and specimen source (p =. 0055). The present study may aid in the understanding of the involvement of staphylococcal superantigens in equine disease progression.