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. 2017 Aug 16;3(1):28.
doi: 10.1186/s40798-017-0094-z.

Staphylococcus Aureus Carriage in French Athletes at Risk of CA-MRSA Infection: a Prospective, Cross-sectional Study

E Couvé-Deacon  1   2   3 , D Postil  4 , O Barraud  1   2   3 , C Duchiron  4 , D Chainier  1   2   3 , A Labrunie  5 , N Pestourie  3 , P M Preux  5 , B François  1   2   4 , M C Ploy  6   7   8
Affiliations

Staphylococcus Aureus Carriage in French Athletes at Risk of CA-MRSA Infection: a Prospective, Cross-sectional Study

E Couvé-Deacon et al. Sports Med Open. .

Abstract

Background: Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a leading cause of infectious diseases in sports teams. In recent decades, community-associated SA (CA-SA) strains have emerged worldwide and have been responsible for outbreaks in sports teams. There are very few data on the prevalence of these strains in France, and none on the carriage among athletes.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the SA carriage proportion among athletes practicing sports at risk for CA-SA infection in a French county, and determined the methicillin-resistant and/or CA-SA proportion. We also analyzed SA carriage according to risks factors and studied the SA clonality in a sample of our population.

Results: We included 300 athletes; SA carriage proportion was 61% (n = 183) and one was MRSA carrier (0.33%). The MRSA strain belonged to the clonal complex ST5. None of the strain produced Panton Valentine Leucocidin, and we did not find clonal distribution within the teams. Interestingly, we found a high throat-only carriage (n = 57), 31.1% of the SA carriers.

Conclusion: We found a high SA carriage with a local epidemiology quite different than that reported in a similar population in the USA. Further studies on SA carriage should include throat sampling.

Trial registration: The approved protocol was registered on ClinicalTrial.gov , NCT01148485.

Keywords: Community associated; Nasal carriage; Panton Valentine leukocidin; Sports team; Staphylococcus aureus; Throat carriage.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The study, as biomedical research, was authorized by the French competent authorities and the local ethics committee (CPP). The study was carried out exactly as described in the approved protocol (Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01148485). Each participant signed informed consent forms. The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Competing Interests

Elodie Couvé-Deacon, Déborah Postil, Olivier Barraud, Cécile Duchiron, Delphine Chainier, Anaïs Labrunie, Nathalie Pestourie, Pierre-Marie Preux, Bruno François, and Marie-Cécile Ploy declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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