EPIDEMIOLOGIC DATA ON STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS STRAINS PRODUCING SYNERGOHYMENOTROPIC TOXINS

DNA hybridisation of 309 consecutive Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates with oligonucleotide probes specific for genes encoding Panton-Valentine leucocidin (luk-PV) and gamma-haemolysin (hlg) revealed that 99% of randomly selected strains carried the hlg locus whereas only 2% harboured the luk-PV as well as the hlg loci. Only 1% of the strains did not possess either gene. In a clinical prospective study of independent S. aureus strains, 58 Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-producing isolates were shown to be responsible for primary skin infections, mainly furuncles (86%). Phage susceptibility patterns and pursed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles of DNA were shown to be polymorphic epidemiological markers of PVL-producing strains. In eight patients with recurrent furuncles, the PVL-producing strains isolated either from furuncles or from the anterior nares were considered to be identical in each based upon phage sensitivity profiles or PFGE patterns.