Recovery of staphylococcal enterotoxin F from the breast milk of a woman with toxic-shock syndrome.

At 22 hr after an uncomplicated delivery of a healthy full-term infant, a 26-year-old woman developed toxic-shock syndrome (TSS). A vaginal culture yielded a coagulase-positive Staphylococcus that produced staphylococcal enterotoxin F (SEF) but no other enterotoxins. Breast milk specimens obtained on postpartum days 5, 8, and 11 contained 3.0, 2.5, and 2.0 ng of SEF/ml, respectively. Sera obtained from the mother on postpartum days 4 and 38 had titers (by radioimmunoassay) of antibody to SEF of 1:5 and less than 1:5, a result demonstrating a persisting lack of antibody to SEF after the first episode of TSS; the infant's serum titer of antibody to SEF on day 38 was also less than 1:5. Further longitudinal monitoring of SEF and antibody to SEF in breast milk from this patient is presented. This case is the first isolation of SEF from a body fluid obtained from a patient with TSS further strengthens the association between SEF and TSS.