Evidence that staphylococcal superantigens promote within-patient bacterial persistence following post-operative surgical site infection.

ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus aureus is a predominant cause of post-operative surgical site infections and persistent bacteremia. Here, we describe a patient who experienced three episodes of S. aureus infection over a period of 4 months following a total knee arthroplasty. The initial bloodstream isolate (SAB-0429) was a clonal complex 5 (CC5) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), whereas two subsequent isolates (SAB-0485 and SAB-0495) were CC5 isolates but methicillin-sensitive S. aureus. The two latter isolates harbored a plasmid encoding three superantigen genes that were not present in the primary MRSA isolate. SAB-0485 and SAB-0495 both expressed the plasmid-encoded staphylococcal enterotoxin R exotoxin and demonstrated increased superantigen activity compared with

SUBMITTER: Dufresne K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11895439 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature