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THE BURNS UNIT IN COPENHAGEN
Author(s) -
Thomsen Mogens
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica section b microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0365-5563
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1971.tb00068.x
Subject(s) - bacitracin , microbiology and biotechnology , streptomycin , erythromycin , oleandomycin , penicillin , neomycin , staphylococcus aureus , antibiotics , lysogenic cycle , biology , bacteria , bacteriophage , escherichia coli , genetics , gene , biochemistry
In the Burns Unit, Copenhagen, Staphylococcus aureus was demonstrated in 80 per cent of burns which showed clinical infection. All strains were phage typed. The strains of the complex 52, 52A, 80, 81 decreased in frequency in the course of 1962. At the same time, there was an increase in the occurrence of the complex 84, 85, 6557, to which, in 1967, 80 per cent of the isolated S. aureus strains belonged. 93 per cent of these strains were resistant to penicillin, streptomycin, tetracyclines, erythromycin, neomycin, and bacitracin and were found to occur at increasing frequency in extensive burns, in cases of prolonged infection, and in patients showing a poor take of skin grafts. Owing to this endemic occurrence, the material does not permit conclusions to be drawn concerning virulence, and distribution of the phage types demonstrated was the same as that in other hospital infections. The spread of type 84/85/6557 was followed. The sensitivity of these strains to erythromycin, neomycin, and bacitracin was studied by the tube dilution method. Gradual transitions to resistance or dissociated resistance could not be demonstrated. The resistance to erythromycin was of the inducible form, but an increasing resistance to oleandomycin developed. The possibility that this strain may have arisen from 83A by lysogenic conversion is discussed.