• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.153-158
• /
• 2018

Staphylococcus aureus is an important cause of human infections, and it is also a commensal that colonizes the nose, axillae, vagina, throat, or skin surfaces. S. aureus has increasingly been recognized as a cause of severe invasive illness, and individuals colonized with this pathogen are subsequently at increased risk of its infections. S. aureus infection is a major cause of skin, soft tissue, respiratory, bone, joint, and endovascular disorders, and staphylococcal bacteremia may cause abscess, endocarditis, pneumonia, metastatic infection, foreign body infection, or sepsis. The authors describe a case of a fisherman who died of sepsis on a fishing boat during sailing out for fish. The autopsy shows paravertebral abscess, pus in the pericardial sac, infective endocarditis with vegetation on the aortic valve cusp, myocarditis, pneumonia and nephritis with bacterial colonization, and also liver cirrhosis and multiple gastric ulcerations.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 1985

A total of 211 strains of Staphylococcus aureus which included 118 strains isolated from various clinical specimens of admitted patients of University Hospital with systemic or severe cases of infection and 93 strains from infected skin diseases of out-patients of dermatology clinic located in rural area, were tested for the antimicrobial susceptibility to the 12 drugs of common use and the phage typing. An these were subjected to the study of plasmid profile analysis for the molecular epidemiology of nosocomial infections. University Hospital(UH) isolates showed higher frequency of resistance than local clinic(LC) isolates against 10 drugs excluding tetracycline(Tc), and trimethoprim(Tp). The MIC of UH isolates were above than $128{\mu}g/ml$ against 9 drugs except Tc, gentamicin(Gm), and Tp, but LC isolates did not show such a high level of MIC. There was difference of MIC needed to inhibit 90% of strains(MIC90) against each drugs tested between two groups of UH and LC isolates. UH isolates showed 2 to 4 times higher value of MIC90 by two-fold serial dilution of drug concentration than LC isolates. Tp was considered as an effective drug in treatment of staphylococcal infections whereas ampicillin and Gm were appeared to be ineffective. Seventy-three strains(61.9%) of UH isolates and 70(69.9%) of LC were typable with phages from Colindale Reference Laboratory. The prevailing phage type of UH isolates belonged to lytic group II were 27 strains(22.9%) and those of LC isolates belonged to lytic group II were 23 strains(24.7%). Thirteen strains(11.0%) of UH isolates were multiply resistant to more than 5 drugs to 10 drugs but none of LC isolates. Through the lysis method of Kado and Liu followed by agarose gel electrophoresis, none of 211 strains showed plasmid profile. These results were confirmed by re-examination through the method of Birnboim and Doly.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.267-275
• /
• 2011

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (S.) aureus (MRSA) is one of the most important nosocomial pathogens worldwide and the emergence of this strain has become a major clinical problem. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of MRSA and their genetic characteristics in 69 S. aureus isolated from humans and animals. In human isolates, higher antimicrobial resistance rates were observed against penicillin (80.6%), followed by erythromycin (11.9%) and tetracycline (9.0%). All of them were susceptible to clindamycin, enrofloxacin, novobiocin, pirlimycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and vancomycin. The resistance patterns in animal isolates were similar to those of human isolates. Two (2.9%) MRSA strains were isolated from human (n = 1) and animal (n = 1), and these isolates were confirmed as carrying the mecA gene. One isolate originating from human was resistant to 7 drugs and the other isolate derived from animal was resistant to 11 drugs. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) variant IIIB was identified in animal isolate but SCCmec type of an isolate from human was not exactly determined. Two MRSA isolates showed unrelated PFGE pattern between them. Our results indicated although the frequency of MRSA isolates from humans and animals was low, a continuous surveillance and monitoring should be called for to prevent the contamination and spread of MRSA in the community. To our knowledge, this is the first time that SCCmec type variant IIIB was detected from animals in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.255-265
• /
• 2016

Objectives: Mobile phones have become one of the most essential accessories in daily life. However, they may act as reservoir of infectious pathogens if they are used without hygienic practices in their handling. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate food-borne pathogens from mobile phones and investigate the characteristics of toxin genes and antibiotic susceptibility patterns. Methods: A total of 146 mobile phones were collected from 83 middle- and 63 high-school students in Busan. The surfaces of the mobile phones were aseptically swabbed. Results: Among the food-borne pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli were detected in 26 (17.8%), 20 (13.7%) and four (2.7%) samples, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences according to school level, gender or phone type. None of four E. coli strains had pathogenic toxic genes. All of the B. cereus strains carried at least three different toxin genes among the nine enterotoxin and emetic toxin genes. Three out of 20 B. cereus strains (15%) possessed emetic toxin genes, which are rarely detected in food-poisoning cases in Korea. Among the 26 strains of S. aureus, the detection rate of staphylococcal enterotoxin genes, toxic shock syndrome toxin (tsst) and factors essential for methicillin resistance (femA) were 84.6%, 7.7% and 100%, respectively. In the antibiotic susceptibility test, there was no methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). Conclusion: The results show that students' mobile phones in Busan were contaminated by food-borne pathogens which carried various toxic genes. Therefore, regular phone disinfection and hand hygiene is important in order to reduce cross-contamination.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.502-506
• /
• 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profiles of and the enterotoxin gene distribution in 4 strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S10-2, S10-3, S12-2, and S13-2) isolated from 90 bulgogi samples. The S. aureus enterotoxin H gene (seh) was found in all the strains, while the S. aureus enterotoxin A gene (sea) was found only in 3 of the 4 strains. The S10-2 strain expressed a combination of enterotoxin genes - seg, seh, sei, sej, selm, and seln. The strains S10-2 and S13-2 were resistant to ampicillin and penicillin G, and all the isolated strains were resistant to tetracycline. The S10-2 strain was the only mecA-positive strain; it was also resistant to β-lactam antibiotics. Thus, genes encoding enterotoxin as well as those conferring antibiotic resistance were identified in the S. aureus strains isolated from pork bulgogi. These results represents the potential occurrence of MRSA in pork bulgogi, and the need for a monitoring system for pork bulgogi in order to prevent an outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.512-526
• /
• 2020

Synthetic nitrite is considered an undesirable preservative for meat products; thus, controlling synthetic nitrite concentrations is important from the standpoint of food safety. We investigated 1,000 species of microorganisms from various kimchi preparations for their potential use as a starter culture for the production of nitrites. We used 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis to select a starter culture with excellent nitrite and nitric oxide productivity, which we subsequently identified as Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113. That starter culture was grown in NaCl (up to 9%; w/v) at 10℃-40℃; its optimum growth was observed at 30℃ at pH 4.0-10.0. It exhibited nonproteolytic activity and antibacterial activity against Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium that causes food poisoning symptoms. Analysis of Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113 with an API ZYM system did not reveal the presence of β-glucuronidase, and tests of the starter culture on 5% (v/v) sheep blood agar showed no hemolytic activity. Our results demonstrated the remarkable stability of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113, especially in strain negative for staphylococcal enterotoxins and sensitive to clinically relevant antibiotics. Moreover, Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113 exhibited a 45.5% conversion rate of nitrate to nitrite, with nitrate levels reduced to 25% after 36 h of culturing in the minimal medium supplemented with nitrate (200 ppm). The results clearly demonstrated the safety and utility of Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113, and therefore its suitability as a starter culture.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.133-139
• /
• 2004

Bacterial pathogens were isolated from 36 dogs with respiratory signs, that were submitted to Veterinary Clinics in Jeju, including Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Cheju National University. Of 36 isolates, 16 (44.4%) bacterial pathogens were Gram-positive and 20 (55.6%) were Gram-negative. Gram-positive bacteria identified with API Staph were 12 S. intermedius (33.3%), 2 S. aureus (5.6%), 1 S. haemolyticum (2.8%), and 1 S. xylosus (2.8%). Gram-negative organisms identified with API 20E or API NE included 8 Bordetella bronchiseptica (22.2%), 6 Escherichia coli (16.7%), 4 Pasteurella spp. (11.1%), 1 Enterobacter intermedius (2.8%), and 1 Oligella ureolytica (2.8%). Both Staphylococcus spp. isolates and Gram-negative pathogens were resistant to one or more antibiotics, including ampicillin (AM), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (AMC), chloramphenicol (C), cefazolin (CZ), erythromycin (E), gentamicin (GM), kanamycin (K), lincomycin (L), oxacillin (OX), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT), and tetracycline (TE). All Staphylococcus spp. were susceptible to AMC, OX and VA, while many isolates were highly resistant to L (87.5%), E (68.8%), P (62.5%), and AM (56.3%). Antibiotic-resistant patterns of staphylococcal isolates were shown ranges from single to 9-resistant patterns. Resistant rates to antibiotics of Gram-negative bacteria were usually higher than those of Staphylococcus spp. in this study. Most Gram-negative bacteria were highly resistant to L (90.0%), AM (85.0%), E (85.0%), P (85.0%), OX (80.0%), and CZ (75.0%). B. bronchiseptica isolates showed 5 to 8 antibiotics-resistant patterns and Pasteurella spp., 2 to 8-resistant patterns. In particular, all 6 E. coli isolates were resistant to more than 9 different kinds of antibiotics, including one strain resistant to all antibiotics tested.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.265-270
• /
• 1976

Implantation of a permanent pacemaker is a widely accepted procedure for the patient with complete heart block.As a result of these device, the prognosis for patients with Adams-Stokes syndrome caused by complete A-V block and other cardiac arrhythmia have become much more optimistic. Permanent pacemaker implantation by means of a transvenous approach has made the operative risk much less and the procedure simpler. However, a number of complications have been reported in the literature regarding transvenous endocardial pacemaker implantation during the last a decade. The patient presented in this paper is a 26-year old girl who was implanted with a permanent pacemaker at 14 years of age because of a congenital A-V block. Following first exchange of pulse generator, the electrode (lead) was fractured, so that by the pulse generator, a change to the transvenous technique of implantation was made, After this, there were episodes of recurrent wound infection on three occasions, even though the site of pulse generator implantation was exchanged to the contralateral side of chest wall, massive doses of antibiotics were administered and sensitivity tests for coagulase positive staphylococcal infection were performed. Though there was no definite evidence of blood stream infection by blood culture, we decided not to use the transvenous technique and not to implant the pulse generator in the chest wall because the venous system and the entire anterior chest wall appeared to be diseased or contaminated by virulent pyogenic organisms. Finally this intractable systemic and local wound infection was successfully controlled by myocardial lead implantation via a subxiphoid approach and implantation of the pulse generator far down in the abdominal wall. The causes and routes of recurrent wound infection and possible blood born infection in this particular patient are still obscure. We strongly believe that myocardial pacemaker implantation is much safer than transvenous endocardial pacemaker implantation & myocardial pacemaker implantation is a definite method for controlling such an intractable wound infection. following transvenous pacemaker implantation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.159-167
• /
• 2001

Staphylocorccus aureus is gram positive, facultatively anaerobic, non-sporulative coccus, and positive for coagulase and DNase. The food-poisoning outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus increases in the world, and third occurrence happened in our country. Of 105 isolates (25.4%) obtained 413 focal samples of food-poisoning suspicious patients. In those cases, the enterotoxins were detected from a total of 45 isolates (42.9%), 9 isolates(20.0%) were A type, 33 isolates (73.3%) were H types, 2 isolates (4.4%) were G type and 1 isolate was a I type enterotoxin. Among the isolates possessing staphylococcal enterotoxins, 29 isolates had H type only(64.4%), 5 isolates had A type only and 4 isolates had both A and H type. Two isolates had G type only and 1 isolate had I type only. In the antibiotic susceptibility, 48 isolates (46%) had at least one antibiotic resistance among 105 isolates, 34 isolates (70.8%) were resistant to penicillin. 1 isolate (2.1%) to ampicillin, 3 isolates (6.3%) to erythromycin and kanamycin. Seven were resistant to more than two antibiotics and especially 1 isolate was resistant to penicillin-ampicillin-nitrofurantoin.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 1991

This study was conducted to evaluate the difference of staphylococcal colonization between lactating mothers and nursery stares. Samples were obtained from the hands and noses of the newborn(admitted to S Univ. hospital's nursery from 1991. 5. 23 to 6. 8), their mothers and nursery staffs. They were cultured, and then the presence/absence of pathogenic staphylococci in them were analyzed by Fisher exact probability test which led to these conclusion of significance as follows: 1. No differences were detected in pathogenic rate of nasal swab culture between breast~fed newborns and formula-fed ones. 2. Delivery type and hospitalization the ones from the brest-fed newborns show high rate of Sta. aureus coa(+). In case of either C-sec delivery or long (more than 4 days) hospitalization, formula-fed ones in case of NSVD or short (less than 3 days) hospitalization. 3. The ones from breast feeding mothers show higher sta. aureus coa(+) than those from nursery staffs, which was of no significance statistically. Considering nursery staffs only, however, the comparison of those with the data in April indicates that the pathogen rate is higher for hand than nose, and Sta aureus coa(+) for hand is far lower in June than in April, which was statistically significant. These results lead us to infer that newborn infection in hospitalization could be largely reduced by maintaining the ordinary hygienes. Such as the handwashing of mothers as well as nursery staffs (directly involved in newborn care) Thus the pre-enterance hand washing of a mother who visits the nursery only for breast feeding (without any other medical responsibility) should be done, like other medical agents, with $0.05\%$ chlorhexidine antiseptics rather than simple soap cleansing; the one 'that is worth emphasizing thoroughly.