• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.160-166
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• 1997

Toxic shock syndrome(TSS) is a multisystemic disease presenting with high fever, sunburn like rash that subsequently desquamates, and hypotension mainly caused by toxin producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus. It was first reported in 1978 by Todd et al, thereafter many patients have been reported. In children, TSS is rare and must be differentiated from other erythematous febrile diseases such as Kawasaki disease, scarlet fever, drug eruption etc. We experienced a case of TSS associated with staphylococcal cellulitis in 26-month old boy, who was presenting similar symptoms to Kawasaki disease at initial stage of illness. As time passed, the patient represented more typical symptoms of TSS and Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from cellulitis of the right elbow area. Therefore, we report this case with a brief review of related literatures.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1323-1329
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• 2021

Micro-scale magnetic beads are widely used for isolation of proteins, DNA, and cells, leading to the development of in vitro diagnostics. Efficient isolation of target biomolecules is one of the keys to developing a simple and rapid point-of-care diagnostic. A zinc finger protein (ZFP) is a double-stranded (ds) DNA-binding domain, providing a useful scaffold for direct reading of the sequence information. Here, we utilized two engineered ZFPs (Stx2-268 and SEB-435) to detect the Shiga toxin (stx2) gene and the staphylococcal enterotoxin B (seb) gene present in foodborne pathogens, Escherichia coli O157 and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Engineered ZFPs are immobilized on a paramagnetic bead as a detection platform to efficiently isolate the target dsDNA-ZFP bound complex. The small paramagnetic beads provide a high surface area to volume ratio, allowing more ZFPs to be immobilized on the beads, which leads to increased target DNA detection. The fluorescence signal was measured upon ZFP binding to fluorophore-labeled target dsDNA. In this study, our system provided a detection limit of ≤ 60 fmol and demonstrated high specificity with multiplexing capability, suggesting a potential for development into a simple and reliable diagnostic for detecting multiple pathogens without target amplification.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.148-160
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the molecular epidemiology of a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreak at a newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: During the outbreak, from August to September 2017, MRSA isolates collected from neonates and medical staff underwent genotyping and screened for virulence factors. Antibiotic susceptibilities were tested. Results: During the study period, 41 neonates were admitted at the nursery (n=27) and NICU (n=14). Of these, 7 had MRSA infections (skin infection [n=6] and sepsis [n=1]) and 4 were colonized with MRSA. Associated medical staff (n=32) were screened; three were nasal MRSA carriers. Staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) type II, sequence type (ST) 89, spa type t375 was found to be the skin infection outbreak causing strain, with multi-drug resistance including low-level mupirocin resistance. SCCmec type IVa, ST 72, and a novel spa type designated t17879, was the cause of MRSA sepsis. Many different types of MRSA were colonized on the neonates; however, SCCmec type IVa, ST 72, spa type t664 was colonized in both neonates and a NICU nurse. All MRSA isolates from colonized infants were positive for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin gene. Conclusions: The strain causing an outbreak of skin infections had multi-drug resistance. Also, MRSA colonized in the neonates were found to carry the PVL toxin gene. Because different strains are present during an outbreak, molecular epidemiologic studies are important to identify the outbreak strain and colonized strains which aid in effective control and prevention of future MRSA outbreaks.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.196-203
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• 2011

Staphylococcus spp. is one of the most common bacteria isolated from the lesions of atopic dermatitis (AD) in humans, and their colonization is known to be a possible trigger factor of clinical signs. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus spp. in canine AD (CAD), the types of exotoxins present, and their relation with the clinical severity of CAD. From 79 dogs with AD, 72 samples of Staphylococcus spp. were isolated (91.1%), and 65 (90.3%) were confirmed as Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. Concerning the profile of the exotoxin gene, 50 isolates (69.4%) contained at least one exotoxin gene, and 28 isolates (56%) were found to contain more than 2 different exotoxins. There was a significant difference in clinical severity with the presence of staphylococcal exotoxins (P=0.028), whereas no correlation was found with the presence of Staphylococcus spp. (P=0.598). The clinical severity of CAD increased only in relation to staphylococcal enterotoxin D (SED) and exfoliative toxins (P<0.05). Some clinical evaluation criteria (erythema, papule/pustule) were correlated with the presence of the exotoxin gene (P<0.05). This study showed that the high prevalence of Staphylococcus spp. and staphylococcal exotoxins in lesions from dogs with AD may be regarded as an important trigger factor for exacerbation of the clinical signs of CAD.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.787-799
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• 1994

To elucidate morphologic lesion of porcine exudative epidermitis which is occurred sporadically in Korea, Staphylococcus hyicus subsp. hyicus isolated from the naturally affected pigs was inoculated to suckling pigs. The infected piglets were observed grossly and histopathologically. Although affected piglets were taking acute, subacute, or chronic course, some piglets suffered from chronic disease showed poor prognosis and marked growth depression. Affected peglets had erythematous skin on the face, ear, and abdomen and these localized lesions appear as brownish spots of exudative epidermitis and fromed crust in the early stage. But, after this stage, the skin were covered by viscous greasy exudate and formed blackish brown crust and appeared fissures and hypertrophy. Grossly, there has been hemorrhage with the removal of crust-like materials of epidermis and edematous subcutis. The superficial lymph nodes were edematous and swollen or congested and hemorrhagic. Some piglets had swollen ureters, cysts in the renal cortex, or polyarthritis. A few cases had mild edematous swelling of kidney, intestinal catarrh and congestion of brain. Microscopically, skin lesions had detachment of keralinized layer and parakeratosis of epidermis, hydropic degeneration of epidermal cell, and retrogressive degeneration of hair root sheath. Dermis had edema, and infiltration of neutrophils and mononuclear cells. As the disease was proceeded, there was marked perivasculitis with lots of mononuclear inflammatory cells. More chronic lesions formed granuloma-like bodies(nodules) due to more mononuclear, perivascular inflammatory cell infiltration and proliferation of fibroblast. Lots of plasma cells and eosinophils were also present in dermis. Epidermis was hyperplastic by proliferation of basal cells stratum germinativum and epidermal pegs often extended into the dermis. In secondary infection, lots of neutrophils could be seen in epidermis and derms. Kidney had neutrophilic infiltration, necrotic and cystic glomeruli, and dilation of renal tubules and ureters. Purulent arthritis was sometimes observed in joints. Three days old mice administrated Staphylococcus hyicus subsp hyicus subcutaneously before had focal congestion and hemorrhage, necrosis, and subcutaneous edema of the skin. This observation was also seen in the study of mice administrated exfoliatin toxin of Staphylococcus which evoked human staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 2005

To characterize the genotypic traits of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphyiococus aureus (MRSA) isolates (n=49), major virulence-associated genes were detected by using PCR-based methods. All the MRSA isolates possessed coagulase gene and showed four polymorphism types [500bp ($6{\%}$),580bp ($27{\%}$), 660bp ($65{\%}$) and 740bp ($2{\%}$)] due to variable numbers of tandem repeats present within the gene. The four or five different loci of hemolysin gene family were dominant in the MRSA isolates,25 of which($51{\%}$) possessed a combination of hla / hlb / hld/ hlg / hlg-2 genes as the most prevalent type. The prevalence of enterotoxin genes was varied among the MRSA isolates. sea and seb genes were detected from all the MRSA isolates. But sei, tsst-1, seg, sec, and seh genes were detected from 31 ($63{\%}$), 16 ($33{\%}$), 14 ($29{\%}$), 8 ($16{\%}$), and 5 ($10{\%}$) isolates, respectively. sed and sej genes were detected from 1 ($2{\%}$) isolate, respectively. see, eta, and etb genes were not detected at all. sea / seb genes were co-detected from 11 ($23{\%}$) isolates, sea / seb / sei genes from 9 ($19{\%}$) isolates, and sea / seb / seg / sei / tsst-1 genes from 5 ($10{\%}$) isolates. Other genes were co-detected with below $10{\%}$ frequencies.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.91-97
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• 2012

Antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens is an important food safety issue worldwide as well as in Korea. In this study, exposure to antimicrobial resistant (AMR) Stapylococcus aureus was assessed from the consumption of pork based food dishes prepared in food service operations using the Monte Carlo simulation. Thirty five isolates of S. aureus were obtained from 124 semi-processed pork products and their antibiotic resistance patterns were determined. The highest resistance was observed for penicillin (76.7%) followed by ampicillin (70.0%). Two isolates were resistant to oxacillin (6.7%) and no vancomycin resistance was observed. Dietary exposure to penicillin resistant S. aureus as the most frequently observed AMR S. aureus from pork-based dishes was estimated based on contamination data as well as compliance to guidelines for time and temperature controls during food service operations. The mean level of penicillin resistant S. aureus in pork dishes during preparation was below 1 Log CFU/g. As a conservative approach, 95th percentile estimated level of penicillin resistant S. aureus was below the level for toxin production. The estimated probability of staphylococcal intoxication by AMR S. aureus was very low using currently available data.