Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus small colony variant strains isolated from Italian patients attending a regional cystic fibrosis care centre.

Small colony variant (SCV) Staphylococcus aureus are a subpopulation of auxotroph, slow-growing strains causing persisting and relapsing infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Twenty-eight SCV and 29 normal S. aureus strains were isolated from 42 out of 222 Italian CF patients.