[Homology of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from skin lesions and nose of patients with impetigo].

Objective: To investigate the homology of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) strains isolated from nose and skin lesions of impetigo children.

Methods: Totally 263 outpatients aged 3 months to 14 years who were seen by the Department of Dermatology of Beijing Children's Hospital between August 2005 and March 2006 were enrolled in this study. The isolations from nose and skin lesions of 58 impetigo children who were randomly selected from these 263 children with spa sequence were typed. The sequence results of SA were analyzed using special websites.

Results: There were 106 impetigo patients in these 263 children. The isolation rate of SA was 78.3% in the nose of 106 impetigo patients and was 21.0% in that of the rest 157 patients (P < 0.01). The age of all nasal carriers was concentrated in 1-6 years. Among the 106 impetigo patients, 30 patients had their primary lesions on the face (including 28 cases of SA nose isolates) and 76 patients had their primary lesions on the other parts of body (including 56 cases of SA nose isolates) (P < 0.01). The spa typing showed that 26 of the 30 impetigo patients had the same type pairs of nose and skin.

Conclusions: SA isolated from the skin lesions and nose of impetigo patients has remarkably homology. Nasal carriage of SA may be closely relevant with the occurrence of impetigo.