Palliative care in public health: a formal and content-related analysis of European journals

Abstract

Staphylococci are ubiquitous microorganisms that predominate in normal skin and mucosal flora. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis have been identified as a major cause of nosocomial infections, especially in patients with predisposing factors such as indwelling or implanted foreign bodies. The ability of both S. epidermidis and S. aureus to produce biofilm was compared between 116 clinically significant strains (46 from blood cultures of patients with bloodstream infection and 70 isolated from catheters) and 60 strains isolated from nasal swabs of healthy carriers from hospital staff. The presence of the intercellular adhesion genes (icaA and icaD) was determined by the Polymerase Chain Reaction method, and slime production was examined using qualitative Congo red agar technique. Among clinical strains, 35.2% (19/54) of S. aureus and 48.4% (30/62) of S.epidermidis were both positive icaA and icaD and they produced slime. Among carrier strains, 22.2% (8/36) of S. aureus and 33.3% (8/24) of S. epidermidis were positive for slime synthesis and exhibited ica genes. Our results suggest that the virulence factors contributing to the development of infections can be present in patient and hospital staff isolates. Thus, we consider it is important to detect healthy carriers of slime-producing staphylococci and to control the dissemination of these microorganisms especially in a hospital.

The antifungal caspofungin increases fluoroquinolone activity against Staphylococcus aureus biofilms by inhibiting N-acetylglucosamine transferase

“…Likewise, in a collection of strains causing catheter-related urinary infections, 88.6% were biofilm-producers and all of them expressed the ica locus16. In this context, an Argentinian study showed that 35% of strains collected in nasal swabs from hospitalized patients or from staff are ica -positive and that all were slime producers56. Conversely, ica -negative strains producing slime have been rarely described in S. aureus infection57, underlining the interest of detecting icaA expression in clinical isolates prior using inhibitors of IcaA as adjuvant therapy.…”

Detection of the intercellular adhesion gene cluster (ica) in clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates

“…Cramton et al [14] demonstrated the presence of icaA gene in S. aureus strains, which was confirmed by Arciola et al [1] describing 23 S. aureus starins isolated from 14 catheter associated infections with the ability to form slime layer based on te presence of the gene icaA, but also icaD . Indeed, while icaA is required to encode N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase, coexpression of icaD can increase the capsular polysaccharide phenotypes [15], indicating a significant role of the icaD locus as a virulence factor in the pathogenesis of S. aureus isolated from catheters [13], [16]. …”

Presence of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in artisan fruit salads in the city of San Luis, Argentina

“…The isolates of S. aureus were characterized as described previously (Satorres and Alcaráz, 2007). The interpretation of coagulase test was performed according to Sperberg and Tatini (1975).…”