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. 2023 May;42(5):621-629.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-023-04591-z. Epub 2023 Mar 24.

Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization level and intracellular reservoir: a prospective cohort study

Josselin Rigaill  1   2   3 , Marie Gavid  4 , Martin Fayolle  1   2   3 , Mohamed Fedy Morgene  1   2 , Yann Lelonge  4 , Florence Grattard  1   2   3 , Bruno Pozzetto  1   2   3 , Adeline Crépin  1   2 , Jean-Michel Prades  4 , Frédéric Laurent  5   6 , Elisabeth Botelho-Nevers  1   2   7 , Philippe Berthelot  1   2   7 , Paul O Verhoeven  8   9   10
Affiliations

Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization level and intracellular reservoir: a prospective cohort study

Josselin Rigaill et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2023 May.

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen in humans. The nasal vestibule is considered as the main reservoir of S. aureus. However, even though the nasal cavity may also be colonized by S. aureus, the relationships between the two sites are still unclear. We conducted a prospective study in humans to assess the S. aureus colonization profiles in the vestibule and nasal cavity, and to investigate the presence of intracellular S. aureus in the two sites. Patients undergoing ear, nose, and throat surgery were swabbed during endoscopy to determine S. aureus nasal load, genotype, and presence of intracellular S. aureus. Among per-operative samples from 90 patients, the prevalence of S. aureus carriage was 32.2% and 33.3% in the vestibule and the nasal cavity, respectively. The mean S. aureus load was 4.10 and 4.25 log10 CFU/swab for the nasal vestibule and nasal cavity, respectively (P > 0.05). Genotyping of S. aureus revealed that all nasal strains isolated from a given individual belong to the same clonal complex and spa-type. An intracellular carriage was observed in 5.6% of the patients, all of whom exhibited a S. aureus vestibule load higher than 3 log10 CFU/swab. An intracellular niche was observed in the vestibule as well as in the nasal cavity. In conclusion, the nasal cavity was also found to be a major site of S. aureus carriage in humans and should draw attention when studying host-pathogen interactions related to the risk of infection associated with colonization.

Keywords: High-level carriers; Humans; Intracellular niche; Nasal carriage; Nasal cavity; Nasal vestibule; Staphylococcus aureus.

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