High genetic diversity of S taphylococcus aureus strains colonizing patients with epidermolysis bullosa

Patients with the blistering disease, epidermolysis bullosa ( EB ), frequently suffer from chronic wounds that become colonized by pathogenic bacteria, such as S taphylococcus aureus . To determine S . aureus colonization rates in patients with EB , swabs were collected from the anterior nares, throats and wounds of 52 D utch patients with EB . Swabs were also collected from nares and throats of 13 healthcare workers who occasionally meet the sampled patients with EB . All EB patients with chronic wounds and 75% of the patients without chronic wounds were colonized with S . aureus . In contrast, 39% of the sampled healthcare workers were colonized with S . aureus . Typing revealed a high degree of genetic diversity of 184 collected S . aureus isolates. Autoinoculation of S . aureus in individual patients with EB was shown to occur frequently, whereas transmission of S . aureus between patients with EB is apparently rare. There was no evidence for S . aureus transmission between patients with EB and healthcare workers.