Staphylococcus of a Newly Recognized Bacteriophage Type
Report of a Hospital Outbreak
- Daniel Lavine, MD;
- Valerie Hurst, PhD;
- Moses Grossman, MD;
- Myron Lee
Abstract
An outbreak of staphylococcal enterocolitis in a large hospital called attention to the high incidence of staphylococcal pneumonia, surgical-wound sepsis, and other infections. The strain responsible was untypable with the international bacteriophages and appears to be a newly recognized bacteriophage type which is lysed only by experimental bacteriophages D, B5, 77Ad, UC18, and SF. All enterocolitis cases occurred among patients who had been treated with broad spectrum antibiotics, either for treatment of hepatic decompensation or in preparation for bowel surgery. Most of the other severe infections occurred among elderly or debilitated patients who were receiving antibiotics. With more discriminatory use of neomycin, the enterocolitis outbreak subsided, although the strain remains endemic in the hospital.
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to University of California-San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco 94110 (Dr. Grossman).
