Pathogenic Staphylococci in the Anterior Nares

Abstract

Summary

(1) Forty percent of persons over 19 years of age who have no evidence of infection in the nares, or of staphylococcal infection elsewhere, harbor pathogenic staphylococci in the nares. There is a tendency to a slightly higher incidence in persons of the same ages with staphylococcal osteomyelitis. (2) Sixty percent of persons under 20 years of age who have no evidence of infection in the nares, or of staphylococcal infection elsewhere, harbor pathogenic staphylococci in the nares. There is a tendency to a slightly lower incidence in persons of the same ages with staphylococcal osteomyelitis. (3) While the plasma-coagulation reaction was the preferred method of differentiating between pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of staphylococci, the fermentation of mannite, the crystal-violet reaction and the production of dermonecrotoxin are also reliable confirmatory methods for such differentiation.