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Topical antimicrobial resistance in S. aureus from patients with AD
Author(s) -
Harkins C.P.,
McAleer M.A.,
Bennett D.,
McHugh M.,
Fleury O.M.,
Pettigrew K.A.,
Oravcová K.,
Parkhill J.,
Proby C.M.,
Dawe R.S.,
Geoghegan J.A.,
Irvine A.D.,
Holden M.T.G.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/bjd.17167
Subject(s) - antimicrobial , medicine , staphylococcus aureus , anti infective agents , antibiotic resistance , dermatology , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics , biology , bacteria , genetics
Summary Atopic dermatitis (AD, commonly also known as eczema) is one of the commonest skin diseases of childhood, with up to 1 in 4 children in the U.K. and Ireland affected. People with AD very frequently carry the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus on their skin. When individuals with AD have a flare, with increased redness and itchiness of their skin, there usually is more S. aureus on the skin. Antibiotics are therefore commonly used as a treatment in AD. This study, carried out in Dublin, Ireland and St Andrews, U.K., aimed to find out if there were differences in antibiotic resistance (meaning the bacteria are able to resist to the antibiotics meant to kill them) in S. aureus from children with AD, compared with children who do not have AD. Skin swabs were collected from 50 children with AD attending a dermatology clinic and swabs from 49 children being seen at an Emergency Department, harmlessly carrying the bacteria in their nose. The DNA (genetic code) of the S. aureus from both groups of children was examined, and samples tested with common antibiotics to identify which ones worked to kill the bacteria. Overall samples from children with AD were more than twice as frequently resistant to the antibiotic fusidic acid (FA), often used in a cream to treat skin infections. The genetic code revealed that resistance to FA happens by different mechanisms in samples from children with AD compared to children without AD. Finally, genes that might allow bacteria to survive against antiseptic soaps were eight times commoner in AD samples. This shows that the treatments used for AD can influence resistance to antibiotics in S. aureus from people with AD.