Prevalence of Antibody to Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin-1 in Burn Patients.
- Author:
Ji Young PARK
1
;
Jae Seok KIM
;
Heungjeong WOO
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords: Burns; Toxic shock syndrome; Toxic shock syndrome toxin-1; Staphylococcus aureus; Antibodies; Prevalence
- MeSH: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibodies, Bacterial/*blood; Bacterial Toxins/genetics/immunology/*metabolism; Burns/blood/*immunology/*microbiology/pathology; Child; Child, Preschool; Enterotoxins/genetics/immunology/*metabolism; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Middle Aged; Nasal Cavity/microbiology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Prevalence; Staphylococcal Infections/epidemiology; Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purification/*metabolism; Superantigens/genetics/immunology/*metabolism; Young Adult
- From:Annals of Laboratory Medicine 2015;35(1):89-93
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND: Burn wounds lack normal barriers that protect against pathogenic bacteria, and burn patients are easily colonized and infected by Staphylococcus aureus. Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare but fatal disease caused by S. aureus. A lack of detectable antibodies to TSS toxin-1 (TSST-1) in serum indicates susceptibility to TSS. METHODS: A total of 207 patients (169 men and 38 women; median age, 42.5 yr) admitted to a burn center in Korea were enrolled in this study. The serum antibody titer to TSST-1 was measured by sandwich ELISA. S. aureus isolates from the patients' nasal swab culture were tested for TSST-1 toxin production by PCR-based detection of the TSST-1 toxin gene. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-four (84.1%) patients showed positive results for antibody against TSST-1. All patients aged > or =61 yr (n=28) and <26 months (n=7) were positive for the anti-TSST-1 antibody. S. aureus was isolated from 70 patients (33.8%), and 58.6% of the isolates were methicillin resistant. Seventeen patients were colonized with TSST-1-producing S. aureus. The antibody positivity in these 17 carriers was 88.2%, and the positivity in the non-carriers was 83.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Most burn patients had antibody to TSST-1, and nasal colonization with TSST-1-producing S. aureus was associated with positive titers of anti-TSST-1 antibody. Additionally, patients with negative titers of anti-TSST-1 antibody might be susceptible to TSS.
