Oak in Hospitals, the Worst Enemy of Staphylococcus aureus?

Abstract

its emergence as a major community pathogen nationally. 8 The concurrent increase in cases of SSIs caused by MSSA, however, was unexpected. This finding suggests that despite the increase in MRSA, MSSA still plays a large role in causing SSIs. Therefore, preoperative screening for Staphylococcus spp., not just MRSA, may help guide preoperative antibiotic selection, skin preparation, and postoperative wound care to minimize the risk of infection with either of these organisms. 9 The predominance of gram-negative organisms in polymicrobial SSIs suggests that external contamination of the wound, (eg, with fecal matter) plays a major role in polymicrobial SSI pathogenesis. This finding highlights the ongoing importance of postoperative wound management and the need for protective barriers to prevent contamination of the wound. 9 Our conclusions are limited by our inability to account for potential correlations between patient-level characteristics, such as comorbidities, with particular organisms causing SSIs. 10 Another limitation was our inability to assess the direct influence of specific interventions that occurred in our medical center over the study period. 3 Further study is planned to examine such interactions. Our study findings indicate that among pediatric patients, skin and bowel flora play a significant role in SSIs. Future interventions to target aspects such as preoperative screening and management of MSSA and MRSA colonization and postoperative wound management to prevent fecal contamination may reduce pediatric SSIs. Further study is planned to assess the effect of patient and procedure factors as well as interventions on both the incidence of and the type of pathogens associated with SSIs. acknowledgments We would like to thank Lou Fitzner for assistance with extraction of SSI data. Financial support: This study was conducted as part of institutional quality improvement efforts. No external funding was used.

Experimental Parameters Influence the Observed Antimicrobial Response of Oak Wood (Quercus petraea)

“…The results of this study regarding the antimicrobial activity of wood material are supported by the previous publications reporting that different woods, including oak [ 15 ], larch [ 1 ], pine [ 2 ], spruce [ 13 ], beech, and fir [ 3 ], have antimicrobial properties against various isolates of S. aureus . In this study, however, the antimicrobial activity of wood material was very low against A. baumannii , as compared to S. aureus .…”

“…Direct disc diffusion method was used as described in earlier studies [ 3 , 15 ]; briefly, the bacterial suspensions adjusted to a density of 0.5 McFarland were inoculated by streaking on Mueller–Hinton agar plates (12 × 12 cm) (BioRad, Marnes La Coquette, France), according to the recommendations of the Antibiogram Committee of the French Society of Microbiology [ 19 ]. The wood discs were then placed directly on the agar.…”

“…A direct wood disc-based agar diffusion method (antiboisgram, a modified form of antibiogram which uses wooden discs instead of antibiotic discs) was recently developed that avoids these difficulties [ 3 ]. This method is based on the diffusion of chemicals from the wood disc into agar and observing the impact, if any, on the microbial growth [ 1 , 15 ].…”

“…These faces will have different surface roughness and diffusion coefficients which are expected to change the antimicrobial behavior of material. For example, Pailhories et al [ 15 ] reported that oak wood ( Quercus sp.) showed different antimicrobial activities against various isolates of Staphylococcus aureus depending upon the planes of cutting.…”

Antimicrobial Characteristics of Untreated Wood: Towards a Hygienic Environment

“…They observed that bacteria and spores could enter deeper (around 3 mm) in transversal cuttings than in longitudinal cut woods, thus, probably posing lesser threat of recontamination with higher number of microbes. Moreover, the wood better utilizes the antimicrobial potential of extractives in transversal direction [6]. In contrast, the longitudinal cut boards of wood were easier to clean because of shallow and wider openings on surface [34].…”