Genomic and phenotypic properties of exfoliatin-producing strains of <I>Staphylococcus aureus</I> implicated in two outbreaks of staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in the Czech Republic
| Title in English | Genomic and phenotypic properties of exfoliatin-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus implicated in two outbreaks of staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in the Czech Republic |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2000 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | 9th International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Genetics and molecular biology |
| Description | Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS) that primarily affects neonates and children is induced by two types of exfoliative toxins (ETs) produced mostly by S. aureus. We examined a group of 18 S. aureus strains isolated in two different places where outbreak of SSSS occurred. The RFLP analysis of SmaI macrorestriction patterns enabled us to determine 5 different PFGE-types (ET1 - ET5). The strains from one of the places of SSSS outbreak were classified with the types ET1 and ET4. ET1 type included a clonal complex of 6 strains having the phenotype: ETA+, ETB+, hem a, ATB-C, OXA-C, phage type 71. Moreover one of the strains of the same group produced enterotoxin C. The strains belonging in ET4 distinguished from the previous ones in being untypable (phage typing). In the other place of SSSS outbreak the following DNA profiles can be distinguished: ET2 (5 strains) ET3 (3 strains) and ET5 (one strain). Clonal complex ET2 was formed by strains isolated from the blisters of children. These strains were phenotypically ETA+, hem a, ATB-C, OXA-C, phage type 71. The strains classified with the type ET3 (3 strains) were isolated from carriers. These were in one case the mother of a sick child and in the other one a hospital employee. The phenotype of these strains was the same as that of the strains classified with the type ET2. One strain differing from the other isolates in the DNA profile was classified with the type ET5 and was characteristic of the phenotype ETA+, ETB+, hem a, TSST-1+, ATB-C, OXA-C, phage type 71. 95 % of exfoliatin-positive strains were sensitive to the polyvalent phages of the species Twort. It was found that in the PCR reaction specific to eta and etb genes the nucleotide products of the size ~120 bp were obtained in 17 of 18 ETA-positive strains. ETB-positive strains had amplicon of the size ~200 bp. On the basis of the above results the conclusion can be made that the strains of S. aureus, that were the cause of SSSS disease in two geographically distant places were genotypically different even if similar in their phenotype. From that it follows that SSSS is not an epidemic infection. |
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