Increased Transmissibility of Staphylococci to Patients Receiving an Antimicrobial Drug

Abstract

AN important question regarding the staphylococcal infections acquired within hospitals has to do with the relative "transmissibilities" of the drug-resistant and the drug-susceptible strains. By "transmissibility" is meant the capacity of a strain to survive transfer to a new host and to maintain itself successfully there. It must be recognized that transmissibility and pathogenicity are not necessarily identical properties. Nevertheless, an enhancement of pathogenicity or an increase in host susceptibility might lead to increased transmissibility. Other attributes, however, such as the increased capacity of a particular strain of staphylococci to survive outside the body, could also lead to increased transmissibility in the absence of any change in intrinsic pathogenicity.