Staphylococcus Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Staphylococcus, including details on mrsa, hospitals, infection, antibiotic resistance, superbugs.

Identification of Staphylococcus aureus and determination of methicillin resistance directly from positive blood cultures by isothermal amplification and a disposable detection device.

Goldmeyer J, Li H, McCormac M, Cook S, Stratton C, Lemieux B, Kong H, Tang W, Tang YW

Molecular Infectious Disease Laboratory, Vanderbilt University Hospital, 4605 TVC, Nashville, TN 37232-5310, USA.

A simple, rapid, and user-friendly procedure has been developed to identify Staphylococcus aureus and determine its methicillin resistance directly from gram-positive cocci in cluster-containing blood culture medium. The specimens were diluted and heated prior to amplification of the nuc and mecA genes with isothermal helicase-dependent amplification. Amplicons were detected using a disposable detection device. The analytical sensitivity of the assays was 50 CFU per reaction, and the clinical sensitivity and specificity were both 100% for S. aureus detection and 100% and 98% for methicillin resistance determination, respectively.

Published 4 April 2008 in J Clin Microbiol, 46(4): 1534-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

Articles on Staphylococcus published 4 April 2008:

Septic pulmonary emboli and bacteremia associated with deep tissue infections caused by community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.   J Clin Microbiol, 46(4): 1553-5.

We report four adult patients who presented with septic pulmonary emboli and community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia associated with deep tissue infections, such as pyomyositis, osteomyelitis, and prostatic abscess. The patients lacked evidence of right-sided endocarditis or thrombophlebitis. This association, previously described in children, may also be important in adults. [Abstract] [Full-text]

Rapid detection of the pandemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone ST 239, a dominant strain in Asian hospitals.   J Clin Microbiol, 46(4): 1520-2.

We describe and validate a novel PCR assay to detect the pandemic hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) lineage ST 239. Results based on previously uncharacterized isolates from a hospital in northeast Thailand support the view that at least 90% of HA-MRSA isolates in mainland Asia correspond to ST 239 or close relatives. [Abstract] [Full-text]

Reductions in workload and reporting time by use of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening with MRSASelect medium compared to mannitol-salt medium supplemented with oxacillin.   J Clin Microbiol, 46(4): 1174-7.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a significant pathogen in both nosocomial and community settings, and screening for carriers is an important infection control practice in many hospitals. In this retrospective study, we demonstrate that the implementation of an MRSA screening protocol using a selective chromogenic medium (MRSASelect) reduced the workload for this screening test by 63.7% overall and by 12.6% per specimen and reduced the turnaround time for reporting by an ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Staphylococcus published 1 April 2008:

Increased surface toll-like receptor 2 expression in superantigen shock.   Crit Care Med, 36(4): 1267-76.

OBJECTIVE: Examination of the interaction between gram-positive bacterial superantigens and toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) in health and critical illness. DESIGN: Laboratory ex vivo model and prospective clinical, cohort study. SETTING: Two research laboratories in university hospitals and two intensive care units. SUBJECTS/PATIENTS: Laboratory study was performed in transfected HeLa cells and primary human monocytes from healthy volunteers. Clinical study used cells from 20 healthy controls and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Staphylococcus published 28 March 2008:

Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization in HIV outpatients: persistent or transient?   Am J Infect Control, 36(3): 187-91.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in HIV patients remains incompletely characterized. The aim of the present study was to describe epidemiologic and molecular features of S. aureus nasal colonization in HIV outpatients. METHODS: HIV outpatients with no history of hospitalization within the previous 2 years were screened for S aureus nasal colonization. Three samples were collected from each patient, and the risk factors for colonization were assessed. Nasal carriage was ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Staphylococcus published 26 March 2008:

Oxybutynin effects on Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm production.   South Med J, 101(3): 236-9.

BACKGROUND: Oxybutynin is a tertiary amine and has chemical similarities like protamine sulfate. Protamine sulfate's effect on bacterial viability has been shown in some studies; however, there is scanty data regarding the effect of oxybutynin on bacterial viability. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of oxybutynin on bacterial viability. METHODS: Twenty of Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) strains were isolated from patients who had ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Staphylococcus published 21 March 2008:

A nitric oxide-inducible lactate dehydrogenase enables Staphylococcus aureus to resist innate immunity.   Science, 319(5870): 1672-6.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most successful human pathogens, colonizing 2 billion individuals worldwide and causing invasive infections even in immunocompetent hosts. S. aureus can evade multiple components of host innate immunity, including the antimicrobial radical nitric oxide (NO.) produced by activated phagocytes. We show that S. aureus is capable of metabolically adapting to nitrosative stress by expressing an NO.-inducible L-lactate dehydrogenase (ldh1, SACOL0222) divergently ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Staphylococcus published 20 March 2008:

Comparison of the cidal activity of tea tree oil and terpinen-4-ol against clinical bacterial skin isolates and human fibroblast cells.   Lett Appl Microbiol, 46(4): 428-33.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare both the antimicrobial activity of terpinen-4-ol and tea tree oil (TTO) against clinical skin isolates of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and their toxicity against human fibroblast cells. METHODS AND RESULTS: Antimicrobial activity was compared by using broth microdilution and quantitative in vitro time-kill test methods. Terpinen-4-ol exhibited significantly greater bacteriostatic and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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