Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage
07:47

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage

Published on: February 15, 2013

Dynamic pattern and genotypic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus nasopharyngeal carriage in healthy pre-school

S Blumental1, A Deplano, S Jourdain

  • 1Paediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola, Brussels, Belgium. sophie.blumental@ulb.ac.be

The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
|March 22, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Staphylococcus aureus carriage is common in young children, but persistent carriage is less frequent than believed. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was found in 3% of children, not linked to PVL toxin.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Epidemiology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) carriage is considered more common in children than adults.
  • Understanding carriage patterns is crucial for public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the temporal carriage patterns of S. aureus in preschool children.
  • To analyze the genotypic diversity, toxin profiles, and antibiotic resistance of S. aureus strains.

Main Methods:

  • Collected nasopharyngeal aspirates from 333 children aged 3-6 years over one school year.
  • Utilized Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for identification, methicillin resistance, and toxin gene detection.
  • Performed spa sequencing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) for genotyping.

Main Results:

  • S. aureus was detected in 55% of children, with 15% showing persistent carriage and 44% intermittent carriage.
  • Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was identified in 3% of children, with specific hospital-associated clones noted.
  • Toxin gene prevalence varied, with toxic shock syndrome toxin common, while Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) was rare.

Conclusions:

  • Persistent S. aureus carriage in preschool children appears less common than previously assumed.
  • MRSA carriage prevalence was low and not associated with PVL.
  • Genotypic diversity was observed among both MRSA and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates.
Abstract

Keywords:
MRSAcarrierskindergarten

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