Persistent Wound Infection after Herniotomy Associated with Small-Colony Variants of Staphylococcus aureus
Abstract
A small-colony variant (SCV) of Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from a patient with a persistent wound infection (abscess and fistula) 13 months after herniotomy. The strain was nonhemolytic, nonpigmented and grew only anaerobically on Schaedler agar. As it was coagulase-negative, it was initially misidentified as a coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. In further analysis, however, the microorganism was shown to be an auxotroph that reverted to normal growth and morphology in the presence of menadione and hemin (Schaedler agar) and could be identified as a SCV of Staphylococcus aureus. Surgery and antibiotic treatment of the patient with flucloxacillin and rifampicin for 4 weeks resulted in healing of the chronic wound infection.
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This correlates with the clinical evidence that SCVs are able to persist in host tissues, resisting clearance by immune cells that expose the pathogen to the oxidative burst.
“This correlates with the clinical evidence that SCVs are able to persist in host tissues, resisting clearance by immune cells that expose the pathogen to the oxidative burst (1–14, 36, 37).”
From Staphylococcus aureus Adapts to Oxidative Stress by Producing H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> -Resistant Small-Colony Variants via the SOS Response (2015) · cites this paper as [1]
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- Authors
- Abele-Horn, M., Schupfner, B., Emmerling, P., Waldner, H., & Göring, H.
- Affiliations
- München Klinik Schwabing (DE)
- Venue
- Infection
- Published
- 2000-02-01
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 53-54
- ISSN
- 0300-8126 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2066929429
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Infection (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Endocrinology › Infections and bacterial resistance
- Keywords
- small colony variants, Staphylococcus aureus, herniotomy, postoperative abscess, fistula, anaerobic growth, auxotrophy, flucloxacillin, rifampicin
- MeSH terms
- Antibiotics, Antitubercular, Fistula, Floxacillin, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Penicillins, Rifampin, Staphylococcal Infections, Staphylococcus aureus, Surgical Wound Infection, Abdominal Abscess, Herniorrhaphy
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