QUANTITATIVE STUDIES OF NASAL CARRIERS OF STAPHYLOCOCCI AMONG HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS*

Abstract

Sixty-four % of staphylococci isolated from lesions were lysed by phages 80/81 but only 26% of staphylococci from the noses of hospitalized patients were lysed by these phages. Over half of the patients were receiving antibiotics at the time staphylococcal infection was acquired, and the differences between phage types might be explained in part by the observations that staphylococci lysed by phages 80/81 were much more frequently multiple-drug-resistant than were other staphylococci. In addition, more staphylococci could be isolated from nasal carriers of 80/81 staphylococci than from carriers of other types of staphylococci in the absence of infection. Staphylococci could be isolated from the clothing of nasal carriers of over 10,000 colonies of staphylococci per culture more frequently than they could be isolated from the clothing of nasal carriers of smaller numbers of staphylococci or from the clothing of patients who were not nasal carriers.