RESEARCH ARTICLE


Cross-contamination: Comparison of Nasal and Chronic Leg Ulcer Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from the Same Patient



Kristine Gjødsbøl 1, 2, Mette Elena Skindersoe 1, Robert Leo Skov 1, Karen Angeliki Krogfelt 1, *
1 Microbiology and Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
2 Coloplast A/S, Holtedam 1, DK-3050 Humlebaek, Denmark


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Creative Commons License
© Gjødsbøl et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Microbiology and Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark; Tel: +45 3268 3745; Fax: +45 3268 8238; E-mail: kak@ssi.dk


Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of bacterial cross-contamination between the nasal cavity and leg ulcers. Sixteen patients were included in the study. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the leg ulcer of 13 patients and 6 of these patients also harboured S. aureus in the nasal cavity. Klebsiella oxytoca was found in the ulcer and the nasal cavity of one patient. PFGE analysis revealed that patients harbouring S. aureus both in the nasal cavity and the leg ulcer had the same bacterial type at both sites. None of the S. aureus isolates were methicillin resistant.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, nasal carriage, chronic leg ulcers, cross-contamination, Klebsiella oxytoca.