The pharmacokinetics of ciprofloxacin and its effect on the oropharyngeal bacterial flora were examined in 21 ill patients being treated for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections or colonization or both. Oral ciprofloxacin (750 mg twice a day) produced peak and trough concentrations in serum of 2.56 +/- 1.80 and 0.97 +/- 0.81 micrograms/ml and steady-state salivary and nasal se...

IMPORTANCE The counterintuitive decrease of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels in a severe inflammatory disorder like cystic fibrosis (CF) is only scarcely understood. Because NO is important in a variety of regulatory processes in the lung, including host defense, inflammation, and bronchomotor control, it is necessary to search for clarifying mechanisms. OBJECTIVES To explore whether fraction...

Currently, there is no animal model known that mimics natural nasal colonization by Staphylococcus aureus in humans. We investigated whether rhesus macaques are natural nasal carriers of S. aureus. Nasal swabs were taken from 731 macaques. S. aureus isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), spa repeat sequencing and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), and compared with hum...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common and important cause of colonization and infection in medical intensive care units (ICU). The aim of this study was to assess association factors between MRSA nasal colonization and subsequent infections in medical ICU patients by clinical investigation and molecular genotyping. A prospective cohort observational analysis of consecut...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and clinical importance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization in student athletes. DESIGN Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING A major university in the southeastern United States. PARTICIPANTS Student athletes participating in the men's football and women's lacrosse programs (N = 126). Main Exposure Monthly asse...

The nares represent an important bacterial reservoir for endogenous infections. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of nasal colonization by different important pathogens, the associated antimicrobial susceptibility and risk factors. We performed a prospective cohort study among 1878 nonhospitalized volunteers recruited from the general population in Germany. Participants provided nasal s...

Pigs reared in intensive production systems are continuously exposed to ammonia released by the microbial degradation of their excrement. Exposure to this gas has been shown to increase the severity of the disease progressive atrophic rhinitis by facilitating colonization of the pig's upper respiratory tract by Pasteurella multocida. The etiological mechanism responsible for this synergy was in...

background: methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) is resistant to most antibiotics and is an important pathogen of nosocomial infections. the prevalence of community (ca-mrsa) and hospital acquired methicillin-resistant s. aureus (ha-mrsa) infection is increased. in this study we investigated the frequency of mrsa colonization and its antibiotic susceptibility in students of rafsan...

Recent evidence suggests that interference competition between bacteria shapes the distribution of the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in the lower nasal airway of humans, either by preventing colonization or by driving displacement. This competition within the nasal microbial community would add to known host factors that affect colonization. We tested the role of toxin-mediated i...