<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Elderly people living in nursing homes are a high-risk population for <italic>Staphylococcus aureus</italic> infection. Multiple comorbidities, a weakened immune system, inadequate hygienic conditions, and crowding might increase the prevalence rates of this opportunistic pathogen. However, the epidemiological aspects, genetic diversity, and transmission of <italic>S. aureus</italic> in nursing homes are still poorly understood, especially in Poland. This study aimed to determine the genetic relatedness and prevalence of colonization of <italic>S. aureus</italic> isolated from the anterior nares and the throat of residents and staff in a nursing home located in Lublin, Poland. The study showed a high <italic>S. aureus</italic> prevalence rate among participants (46.1%), yet there was a low frequency of MRSA strains among residents (1.7%) and staff (0%). The multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat fingerprinting (MLVF) analysis demonstrated a high degree of genetic diversity of <italic>S. aureus</italic> strains colonizing the anterior nares and the throat of the participants. The occurrence of simultaneous colonization with more than one unique <italic>S. aureus</italic> strain in any one individual as well as the incidence of colonization with the same genetic variant of <italic>S. aureus</italic> in different individuals was observed. These findings suggest that inter-participant <italic>S. aureus</italic> transmission might contribute to the development of cross-infections.</p></abstract>

Elderly people living in nursing homes are a high-risk population for Staphylococcus aureus infection. Multiple comorbidities, a weakened immune system, inadequate hygienic conditions, and crowding might increase the prevalence rates of this opportunistic pathogen. However, the epidemiological aspects, genetic diversity, and transmission of S. aureus in nursing homes are still poorly understood, especially in Poland. This study aimed to determine the genetic relatedness and prevalence of colonization of S. aureus isolated from the anterior nares and the throat of residents and staff in a nursing home located in Lublin, Poland. The study showed a high S. aureus prevalence rate among participants (46.1%), yet there was a low frequency of MRSA strains among residents (1.7%) and staff (0%). The multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat fingerprinting (MLVF) analysis demonstrated a high degree of genetic diversity of S. aureus strains colonizing the anterior nares and the throat of the participants. The occurrence of simultaneous colonization with more than one unique S. aureus strain in any one individual as well as the incidence of colonization with the same genetic variant of S. aureus in different individuals was observed. These findings suggest that inter-participant S. aureus transmission might contribute to the development of cross-infections.

Molecular Diversity of <italic>Staphylococcus aureus</italic> Colonizing the Upper Respiratory Tract of Residents and Staff in A Nursing Home

Polish Journal of Microbiology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Molecular Diversity of  Colonizing the Upper Respiratory Tract of Residents and Staff in A Nursing Home

Elderly people living in nursing homes are a high-risk population for Staphylococcus aureus infection. Multiple comorbidities, a weakened immune system,...

	Total(n = 102)	Residents(n = 60)	Staff(n = 42)
Age (years)
Median (range)	68 (26-97)	81.5 (56-97)	43 (26-67)
Gender n (%)
Female	78 (76.5)	43 (71.7)	35 (83.3)
Male	24 (23.5)	17 (29.3)	7 (16.7)
S. aureus colonization n (%)	47 (46.1)	28 (46.7)	19 (45.2)
Nares	17 (36.2)	10 (35.7)	7 (36.8)
Throat	11 (23.4)	6 (21.4)	5 (26.4)
Nares and throat	19 (40.4)	12 (42.9)	7 (36.8)

Main cluster	Sub-cluster	S. aureus strain	Resistance profile
A	IV	R23T	TET
	IV	S123T, S123N	TET
	IV	S133T, S133N	TET
	V	S116T	TOB, GEN
B	VII	R38T	FOX, TOB, CIP, LEV, DAP
	IX	R42T, R42N	TET
	IX	S139N	E, CC
	X	R2T	E, CC
	XI	R33T, R33N	E, CC
	XII	S134N	E, CC
-	-	R41N	TET, TOB, GEN

Molecular Diversity of Staphylococcus aureus Colonizing the Upper Respiratory Tract of Residents and Staff in A Nursing Home

Article Category: original-paper

Publié en ligne: 03 sept. 2019

Pages: 371 - 376

Reçu: 06 mai 2019

Accepté: 25 juil. 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2019-039

Mots clés
colonization, elderly, genotyping, nursing home

© 2019 Anton Pyskun et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Basic demographic characteristics of participants and the prevalence of S. aureus colonization.

The antimicrobial resistance profiles of S. aureus strains isolated from residents and staff in a nursing home.

Molecular Diversity of Staphylococcus aureus Colonizing the Upper Respiratory Tract of Residents and Staff in A Nursing Home

Article Category: original-paper

Publié en ligne: 03 sept. 2019

Pages: 371 - 376

Reçu: 06 mai 2019

Accepté: 25 juil. 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2019-039

Mots cléscolonization, elderly, genotyping, nursing home

© 2019 Anton Pyskun et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Basic demographic characteristics of participants and the prevalence of S. aureus colonization.

The antimicrobial resistance profiles of S. aureus strains isolated from residents and staff in a nursing home.

Mots clés
colonization, elderly, genotyping, nursing home