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Published on: June 5, 2012
Superantigen types in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis
J Bania1, A Dabrowska, B Rózalska
1Department of Food Hygiene and Consumer Protection, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland. bania@ozi.ar.wroc.pl
Abstract:
The screening of 17 SAg genes of S. aureus isolated from the sputum of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients revealed that among 47 genetically different strains, 39 (83 %) carried SAg genes. Superantigens forming enterotoxin gene cluster were detected in 20 strains. The 2nd most common superantigen type was selk detected in 13 strains. In 9 strains, selk occurred together with the sea gene. Out of 74 strains recovered from nasal carriers, 56 (75 %) were found to carry SAg genes, 38 carried egc genes, while selk was detected in 5 strains. The predominant SAg types in both investigated S. aureus populations were egc and selk/sea, but selk gene frequency was significantly higher in the CF-derived strains.
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