Evidence Hub

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from human stool samples

Kates AE, Thapaliya D, Smith TC, Chorazy ML

Antimicrobial resistance and infection control, 2018

625 participants

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To determine the prevalence of intestinal S. aureus colonization of patients at a large teaching hospital and determine the molecular characteristics of the identified strains. The second objective of this research was to determine risk factors associated with S. aureus intestinal colonization.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 781 specimens from inpatients and outpatients at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Clinical Microbiology Laboratory was conducted. S. aureus was identified using traditional culture methodologies. Methicillin-resistance was determined via PCR of the mecA gene. PVL PCR, spa typing, and antimicrobial sensitivity testing were also done. A nested case-control study was done on a subset of patients with all colonized patients defined as cases and non-colonized controls. Medical record abstractions were done to identify risk factors for intestinal colonization in the nested study.

RESULTS: Out of 625 patients included in the final study, 58 were positive for S. aureus (9.3%). One isolate was positive for the PVL gene. A high number of isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics including oxacillin (43.1%), erythromycin (51.7%), and levofloxacin (41.4%). All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, daptomycin, linezolid, and quinupristin-dalfopristin. In the nested study, having a disease or condition of the gastrointestinal tract significantly increased the odds of intestinal colonization (OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.04-3.7; aOR: 13.9,…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case-control, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 625 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free