BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus saprophyticus is the second most common cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in young women. As little is known about the incidence of UTIs caused by this organism in Korea, we examined its frequency and clinical characteristics. METHODS: We analyzed the frequency of S. saprophyticus among organisms isolated from urine specimens in Wonju Christian Hospital from July 1996 to June 2008 and reviewed clinical characteristics retrospectively. RESULTS: Of 24,277 strains isolated from urine specimens during the past 12 years, 21 (0.09%) were S. saprophyticus. Outpatients were more common in the S. saprophyticus group than in all patients group (12 of 21, 57% vs 5,098 of 24,277, 21%). The incidence of S. saprophyticus in women was the highest in the group of 15 to 34 years of age. Monthly distributions of isolates were almost constant in all patient groups, while 16 of 21 (76%) cases of the S. saprophyticus group occurred in summer and fall (June to November). CONCLUSION: The fequencies of S. saprophyticus among organisms isolated from urine specimens in all patient groups and women were 0.09% and 0.17%, respectively, and are much lower than those in other countries. However, we need further studies to examine the prevalence of S. saprophyticus UTIs in other regions of this country.
Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Outpatients ; Prevalence ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus saprophyticus ; Urinary Tract ; Urinary Tract Infections

Staphylococcus saprophyticus is a common pathogen of acute urinary tract infection (UTI) in young females. However, S. saprophyticus bacteremia originating from UTI is very rare and has not been reported in Korea. We report a case of S. saprophyticus bacteremia from UTI in a 60-year-old female with a urinary stone treated successfully with intravenous ciprofloxacin, and review the cases of S. saprophyticus bacteremia reported in the literature. Thus, the microorganism may cause invasive infection and should be considered when S. saprophyticus is isolated from blood cultures in patients with UTI.
Bacteremia* ; Ciprofloxacin ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Calculi ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Staphylococcus saprophyticus* ; Staphylococcus* ; Urinary Calculi ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract*

Two trials of external quality assessment for clinical microbiology laboratory were performed in 2004. A total of 12 specimens were distributed. Six specimens were distributed to 293 laboratories with 277 returns in Trial I and six specimens to 293 laboratories with 274 returns in Trial II. The acceptable percentages of Gram-stain on Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecalis were 96.0%, 98.5%, 97.4% and 98.2%, respectively. The acceptable percentages of bacterial identification on Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Shigella flexneri, Gemella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis (Trial II), Streptococcus agalactiae, Listeria monocytogenes, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, and Eikenella corrodens were 97.5% (including 33.7% of no growth), 99.6%, 93.2%, 82.3%, 95.4%, 50.7%, 98.4%, 92.3%, 87.0%, 78.9%, 92.5% (including 53.4% of no growth), respectively. The acceptable percentages for antimicrobial susceptibility tests on Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were relatively high, but those on Streptococcus pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecalis were not high. In conclusion, the acceptable percentages of bacterial stain and identification were relatively good. However, it is necessary that the quality assurance of the individual laboratories should be improved for antimicrobial susceptibility tests on Streptococcus pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecalis, and the selection of the most appropriate antimicrobial agents to test should be also considered.
Anti-Infective Agents ; Eikenella corrodens ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Erysipelothrix ; Escherichia coli ; Gemella ; Korea* ; Listeria monocytogenes ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Shigella flexneri ; Staphylococcus saprophyticus ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae

Lipases are important biocatalysts that are widely used in food processing and bio-diesel production. However, organic solvents could inactivate some lipases during applications. Therefore, the efficient cloning and expression of the organic solvent-tolerant lipase is important to its application. In this work, we first found out an organic solvent-tolerant lipase from Staphylococcus saprophyticus M36 and amplified the 741 bp Lipase gene lip3 (GenBank Accession No. FJ979867), by PCR, which encoded a 31.6 kD polypeptide of 247 amino acid residues. But the lipase shared 83% identity with tentative lip3 gene of Staphylococcus saprophyticus (GenBank Accession No. AP008934). We connected the gene with expression vector pET-DsbA, transformed it into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3), and obtained the recombinant pET-DsbA-lip3. With the induction by 0.4 mmol/L of isopropyl beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside at pH 8.0, OD600 1.0, 25 degrees C for 12 h, the lipase activity reached up to 25.8 U/mL. The lipase expressed was stable in the presence of methanol, n-hexane, and isooctane, n-heptane.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Enzyme Stability ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Lipase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Organic Chemicals ; chemistry ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Solvents ; chemistry ; Staphylococcus saprophyticus ; enzymology