title: Incidence and characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from the tongues of children.
abstract: Three hundred and seven children who had no diseases other than dental disease were examined for their oral carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, the most common persistent human pathogen. Eighty-four percent of them were positive for staphylococci, and 33% were positive for S. aureus. Among the 100 strains of S. aureus isolated, 40 strains produced enterotoxin, and 19 strains produced exfoliative toxin. Their susceptibility to antibiotics was also investigated: Six strains demonstrated resistance to methicillin (MIC greater than or equal to 12.5 microgram/mL), and 50% of the isolates were borderline resistant (MIC of 3.13 to 6.25 micrograms/mL) to the drug. These data suggest that the mouths of children could be reservoirs of pathogenic S. aureus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Hiroshima University School of Dentistry, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suginaka
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagasaka
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003030:Coagulase; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis; D005083:Exfoliatins / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014059:Tongue / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D003030:Coagulase; D004768:Enterotoxins; D005083:Exfoliatins