Staphylococcus aureus strains of the 94/96 complex isolated in the German Democratic Republic: incidence and discrimination of strain clones.
The incidence of S. aureus with a phage pattern of 94/96 rose from 9% in 1979 to 18% in 1985. The frequency of occurrence not only increased among isolates from inpatients and outpatients but also among those from healthy carriers. All of the 504 investigated strains of different origin exhibited a uniform pattern of biochemical characteristics. In each of 40 investigated strains, a plasmid with a molecular mass of 16 Md was found. Elimination experiments indicated that these plasmids determined resistance to penicillin and/or cadmium. Resistance to chloramphenicol was found to be determined by plasmids of 2.0 Md, resistance to oxytetracycline by plasmids of 2.7 Md. Clones could be discriminated by means of 7 experimental phages. The application of these phages for typing strains from infections in hospitals is demonstrated.
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Institut für Experimentelle Epidemiologie, Wernigerode, German Democratic Republic.
D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D002104:Cadmium / Q000494:pharmacology; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D005859:Germany, East; D006801:Humans; D010403:Penicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D011815:R Factors; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D002104:Cadmium