Staphylococcus epidermidis in feedings and feces of preterm neonates

Abstract

Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as the leading agent causing neonatal late-onset sepsis in preterm neonates; although the severity of the episodes caused by this species is often underestimated, it might exert relevant short-and long-term detrimental effects on neonatal outcomes. In this context, the objective of this study was to characterize a collection of S. epidermidis strains obtained from meconium and feces of preterm infants, and to assess the potential role of the enteral feeding tubes as potential reservoirs for this microorganism. A total of 26 preterm infants were enrolled in the study. Meconium and fecal samples were collected weekly during their first month of life (n = 92). Feeding samples were collected after their pass through the enteral feeding tubes (n = 84). S. epidermidis was present in the fecal samples of all the infants in, at least, one sampling time at concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 7.8 log 10 CFU/g. Initially, 344 isolates were obtained and pulsedfield gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiling allowed the reduction of the collection to 101 strains. Among them, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) profiling showed the presence of 32 different sequence types (ST). Globally, most of the STs to hospital-adapted high-risk clones and belonged to clonal complexes (CC) associated to the hospital environment, such as CC2. The virulence gene most commonly detected among the strains was altE. High resistance rates to macrolides and aminoglycosides were detected and 64% of the strains harboured the mecA gene, which was codified in SCCmec types. Our results indicates the existence of a complex and genetically diverse S. epidermidis population in the NICU environment. A better knowledge of S. epidermidis strains may help to devise strategies to avoid their conversion from symbiont to pathobiont microorganisms in the NICUs.

Preterm birth is associated with xenobiotics and predicted by the vaginal metabolome

“…Interestingly, many of the species positively correlated with metabolites associated with term delivery, including Atopobium vaginae, G. vaginalis, Sneathia sanguinegens, C. aurimucosum, Mobiluncus curtisii, Actinomyces neuii, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Gemella haemolysans, several Prevotella species, Candidatus Lachnocurva vaginae (BVAB1 77 ), BVAB2 and BVAB3 were previously reported to be associated with negative outcomes, such as BV 31,[78][79][80][81] , preterm birth [14][15][16]18,82 and other adverse pregnancy [82][83][84] and neonatal 85 outcomes. We find a similarly paradoxical negative correlation between Staphylococcus epidermidis, previously shown to be associated with BV 86 and late-onset sepsis in preterm neonates 87 , and both tartrate and ethyl glucoside (ρ = -0.28, p = 0.00069; ρ = -0.26, p = 0.0015, respectively; Fig. 3a), which were positively associated with sPTB.…”

Intranasal Application of Lactococcus lactis W136 Is Safe in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Patients With Previous Sinus Surgery

“…Immune modulation by lactic acid bacteria is well-described, the immunomodulatory effect exerted both via induction of IL-10 secretion (de Moreno de Leblanc et al, 2011 ) and silencing of TLR2 signaling (Fischer et al, 2011 ; Kaesler et al, 2016 ). For L. lactis W136 , previous in vitro studies have confirmed that exposure to L. lactis increases IL-10 induction in a suspension of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Moles et al, 2020 ).…”

“…However, the therapeutic potential S. epidermidis was tempered by safety concerns regarding the risks of disease production when applied directly to the delicate nasal and sinus passages. Despite its strong potential as a therapeutic commensal, S. epidermidis can represent a formidable pathogen in certain settings, notably the neonatal intensive care unit and infection of intrvascular foreign bodies (Moles et al, 2020 ) This was thus of particular concern in CRS patients, where anatomical barriers to the sinuses have been removed at surgery, and motivated us to search for a suitable candidate which might retain some of the desirable properties of S. epidermidis , but with lesser safety concerns.…”

Evaluation of Biofilm Formation and Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis Isolated from Neonates with Sepsis in Southern Poland

“…Since S. epidermidis colonizes human skin and mucosa during the first few hours of life, after 24 h, skin of most healthy neonates (84%) is colonized by this bacterial species [ 3 ]. Furthermore, S. epidermidis can cause opportunistic infections in mature and premature neonates.…”