Prevalence and resistance of commensal Staphylococcus aureus, including meticillin-resistant S aureus, in nine European countries: a cross-sectional study

Panton-Valentine leukocidin producing Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage, in North-Lebanon

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the prevalence and the risk factors of nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus carrying Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes [Sa PVL(+)] in pupils.

STUDY POPULATION AND METHODS

Two hundred and fifty-seven pupils were screened by nasal swabbing. The detection of 16S rRNA, mecA and luk-PV genes was performed by PCR and the risk factors were assessed with the statistical analysis of a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Thirty-one percent of pupils were colonized, with 16.4% of isolates carrying the luk-PV gene and 8.8% the mecA gene. Children aged 7years or more and living in a boarding school were the factors promoting nasal carriage 60% of children who presented with an abscess in the previous year were carriers of luk-PV gene Sa.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed a high prevalence of luk-PV gene among methicillin-susceptible strains and a statistically significant correlation between the presence of this gene and presenting with an abscess.

Prevalence and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus in Swedish nursing homes - as revealed in the SHADES study

Knowledge of carriage and population dynamics of Staphylococcus aureus is crucial for infection risk assessment and to reveal transmission patterns of strains. We report the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of S. aureus in elderly people (n = 290) living in nursing homes in three cities in the south of Sweden. The overall carriage prevalence rate was 48% when results from nares (31%) and throat (34%) samples were combined. Common spa types were equally distributed but a frequent type, t160, was found only in one of the regions. Carriage of different spa types was detected in 23% of individuals and antimicrobial resistance rates were higher in S. aureus isolates from those carrying more than one spa type. Five of the 21 individuals who carried different spa types were colonized simultaneously with resistant and non-resistant strains. Seventeen per cent of the individuals carried S. aureus of the same spa type on all occasions. Methicillin resistance was not detected. In conclusion we found a high prevalence of S. aureus in this elderly population with a high rate of dual colonization with different spa types. We also found signs of institutional spread of one strain.