OBJECTIVES to determine the prevalence and characteristics of previously unknown methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriers at admission. DESIGN two prospective case-control studies. SUBJECTS 1,621 elderly patients were screened for MRSA carriage within 24 hours after admission to a geriatric hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. METHODS risk factors associated with previously...

Since 1970, periodic outbreaks of leptospirosis, caused by pathogenic spirochetes in the genus Leptospira, have caused morbidity and mortality of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) along the Pacific coast of North America. Yearly seasonal epizootics of varying magnitude occur between the months of July and December, with major epizootics occurring every 3-5 years. Genetic and serolog...

BACKGROUND Nasal colonization with bacterial pathogens is associated with risk of invasive respiratory tract infections, but the related information for Chinese healthy children is scarce. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted with healthy children from 6 kindergartens in the Chaoshan region, southern China during 2011-2012. Nasal swabs were examined for five common bacterial patho...

Conjugate vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) protect against nasopharyngeal carriage of serotypes included in the vaccine. However, in several clinical trials, vaccinees have shown increased carriage of nonvaccine serotypes of pneumococcus. These increases may be due to serotype replacement, if vaccine-induced protection against carriage of vaccine serotypes increases susc...

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus has long been hypothesized to be a major vector for the transmission of virulent strains throughout the community. To address this hypothesis, we have analyzed the relatedness between a cohort of nasal carriage strains and clinical isolates to understand better the genetic conformity therein. To assess the relatedness between nasal carriage and clinical i...

PURPOSE Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of invasive infections, yet most assessments of prevalence are based on health care-based samples. We computed population-based estimates of nasal carriage of S aureus and risk factors for carriage, as well as population-based estimates of nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA). METHODS We used the National Health and Nutrition ...

AIMS The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy children aged 0-6 years who were vaccinated with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. METHODS The cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 healthy Turkish children aged between 1 month and 6 years of age. Serotyping was performed and risk factors of carriage were evalu...

The majority of HIV-infected patients develop Candida spp-associated clinical oral lesions. Studies have shown that asymptomatic oral colonization of Candida spp may lead to oral lesions or become a source of disseminated infections. The aim of this study was to verify the effects of periodontal conditions on Candida spp prevalence and Candida spp carriage in the oral cavity of HIV-infected pat...

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccination has proved highly effective in eliminating vaccine-type pneumococcal carriage and disease. However, the potential adverse effects of serotype replacement remain a major concern when implementing routine childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccination programmes. Applying a concise predictive model, we present a ready-to-use quantitative tool to investigate the im...

Acquisition of nasal Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colonization by contaminated hands is likely an important determinant of its nasal carriage rate in health care and lab setting. The objective of our cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence of nasal methicillin-sensitive (MSSA) or -resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage among health care professionals (HCPs) attending an...