Open AccessVitamin D Sufficiency and Staphylococcus Aureus Infection in Children
Author(s) -
Jeffrey W. Wang,
Patrick G. Hogan,
David A. Hunstad,
Stephanie A. Fritz
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the pediatric infectious disease journal/the pediatric infectious disease journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1532-0987
pISSN - 0891-3668
DOI - 10.1097/inf.0000000000000667
Subject(s) - staphylococcus aureus , antimicrobial , microbiology and biotechnology , vitamin d and neurology , vitamin , immunity , immune system , skin infection , staphylococcal infections , medicine , immunology , biology , bacteria , genetics
Vitamin D promotes epithelial immunity by upregulating antimicrobial peptides, including LL-37, which have bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus. We found that children with vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency [25-hydroxyvitamin D <30 ng/mL] were more likely to present with recurrent, rather than primary, S. aureus skin or soft tissue infection. Vitamin D sufficiency may be one of a myriad of host and environmental factors that can be directly impacted to reduce the frequency of S. aureus skin and soft tissue infection.