Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2010 Apr;29(4):373-82.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-009-0867-5. Epub 2010 Jan 28.

Is nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus the main acquisition pathway for surgical-site infection in orthopaedic surgery?

P Berthelot  1 , F Grattard, C Cazorla, J-P Passot, J-P Fayard, R Meley, J Bejuy, F Farizon, B Pozzetto, F Lucht
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Is nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus the main acquisition pathway for surgical-site infection in orthopaedic surgery?

P Berthelot et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

The endogenous or exogenous origin of Staphylococcus aureus, responsible for orthopaedic surgical-site infections (SSI), remains debated. We conducted a multicentre prospective cohort study to analyse the respective part of exogenous contamination and endogenous self-inoculation by S. aureus during elective orthopaedic surgery. The nose of each consecutive patient was sampled before surgery. Strains of S. aureus isolated from the nose and the wound, in the case of SSI, were compared by antibiotypes or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). A total of 3,908 consecutive patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery were included. Seventy-seven patients developed an SSI (2%), including 22 related to S. aureus (0.6%). S. aureus was isolated from the nose of 790 patients (20.2%) at the time of surgery. In the multivariate analysis, S. aureus nasal carriage was found to be a risk factor for S. aureus SSI in orthopaedic surgery. However, only nine subjects exhibiting S. aureus SSI had been found to be carriers before surgery: when compared, three pairs of strains were considered to be different and six similar. In most cases of S. aureus SSI, either an endogenous origin could not be demonstrated or pre-operative nasal colonisation retrieved a strain that was different from the one recovered from the surgical site.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Am J Infect Control. 1992 Oct;20(5):271-4 - PubMed
    1. Injury. 2006 May;37 Suppl 2:S59-66 - PubMed
    1. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008 Oct;29 Suppl 1:S51-61 - PubMed
    1. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Aug 15;45(4):475-7 - PubMed
    1. Clin Infect Dis. 2002 Aug 15;35(4):353-8 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources