Incidence and Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from the Tongues of Children

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Abstract
Three hundred and seven children who had no diseases other than dental disease were examined for their oral carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, the most common persistent human pathogen. Eighty-four percent of them were positive for staphylococci, and 33% were positive for S. aureus. Among the 100 strains of S. aureus isolated, 40 strains produced enterotoxin, and 19 strains produced exfoliative toxin. Their susceptibility to antibiotics was also investigated: Six strains demonstrated resistance to methicillin (MIC ≥ 12.5 μg/mL), and 50% of the isolates were borderline resistant (MIC of 3.13 to 6.25 μg/mL) to the drug. These data suggest that the mouths of children could be reservoirs of pathogenic S. aureus.