Incidence and Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from the Tongues of Children

Abstract

Three hundred and seven children who had no diseases other than dental disease were examined for their oral carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, the most common persistent human pathogen. Eighty-four percent of them were positive for staphylococci, and 33% were positive for S. aureus. Among the 100 strains of S. aureus isolated, 40 strains produced enterotoxin, and 19 strains produced exfoliative toxin. Their susceptibility to antibiotics was also investigated: Six strains demonstrated resistance to methicillin (MIC ≥ 12.5 μg/mL), and 50% of the isolates were borderline resistant (MIC of 3.13 to 6.25 μg/mL) to the drug. These data suggest that the mouths of children could be reservoirs of pathogenic S. aureus.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brumfitt, W. and Hamilton-Miller, J. (1989): Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, N Engl J Med 320:1188-1196. Carpenter, C.C.J. (1980): Mechanisms of Bacterial Diarrheas, Am J Med 68:313-316.

Dahlen, G. ; Lindhe, A. ; Moller, A.J.R. ; and Ohman, A. (1982): A Retrospective Study of Microbiologic Samples from Oral Mucosal Lesions, Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 53 :250-255.

Knighton, H.T. (1965): Coagulase-positive Staphylococci in Oral and Nasal Areas of Dental Students: a Four-year Study, J Dent Res 44:467-470.

Kondell, P.A. ; Nord, C.E. ; and Nordenram, G. (1984): Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Oral Surgical Outpatients Compared to Isolates from Hospitalized and Non-hospitalized Individuals, Int J Oral Surg 13:416-422.

McCarthy, C. ; Snyder, M.L. ; and Parker, R.B. (1965): The Indigenous Oral Flora of Man-I, Arch Oral Biol 10:61-70.

Melish, M.E. and Glasgow, L.A. (1970): The Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome: Development of an Experimental Model, N Engl J Med 282:1114-1119.

Park, C.E. and Szabo, R. (1986): Evaluation of the Reversed Passive Latex Agglutination (RPLA) Test Kits for Detection of Staphylococcal Enterotoxins A, B, C, and D in Foods, Can J Microbiol 32:723-727.

Sheagren, J.N. (1984a): Staphylococcus aureus the Persistent Pathogen (First of two parts), N Engl J Med 310:1368-1373.

Sheagren, J.N. (1984b): Staphylococcus aureus the Persistent Pathogen (Second of two parts), N Engl J Med 310:1437-1442.

10.

Socransky, S.S. and Manganiello, S.D. (1971): The Oral Microbiota of Man from Birth to Senility, J Periodontol 42 :485-494.

11.

Tomasz, A. ; Drugeon, H.B. ; DE Lencastre, H.M. ; Jabes, D. ; McDougall, L. ; and Bille, J. (1989): New Mechanism for Methicillin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus: Clinical Isolates That Lack the PBP 2a Gene and Contain Normal Penicillin-binding Proteins with Modified Penicillin-binding Capacity, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 33:1869-1874.

12.

Uragami, K. (1983): Studies on Staphylococcal Coagulase Type and Phage Type Isolated from Pyodermas, Especially Impetigo Contagiosa, Jpn J Dermatol 93:613-627 (in Japanese).

13.

Williams, R.E.O. (1963): Healthy Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus : its Prevalence and Importance, Bacteriol Rev 27:56-71.