{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T20:20:38Z","timestamp":1792095638325,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,4]],"date-time":"2017-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1504483200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, HCDCP\/KEELPNO","award":["C954"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["C954"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of infections. Toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST-1) and Panton\u2013Valentine leukocidin (PVL) are associated with severe clinical syndromes. S. aureus colonizing isolates recovered from healthcare workers and patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital comprising Group A were compared with those from adult non-ICU carriers (Group B). mecA, lukS\/lukF-PV (Panton\u2013Valentine leukocidin, PVL), and tst (toxic shock syndrome toxin) gene carriage was detected by PCR. Clones were identified in all methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and toxin-positive methicillin-susceptible strains (MSSA) by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), agr groups, and multi locus sequencing typing (MLST). Group A included 90 S. aureus isolates, whereas Group B 53. PVL was more frequently found among MRSA vs. MSSA (p &lt; 0.001) and in strains of Group B as compared to Group A (p &lt; 0.001), consistent with the spread of ST80-IV. Higher incidence of tst gene carriage was identified among MSSA vs. MRSA (P 0.005) belonging mainly to ST30, and Group A vs. Group B (P 0.002). The wide dissemination of ST80-IV mainly in the community is responsible for a high percentage of PVL-positive MRSA, while silent spread of tst-positive S. aureus clones among ICU patients and personnel poses a threat of hospital transmission and possible severe infections.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins9090270","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,4]],"date-time":"2017-09-04T11:11:52Z","timestamp":1504523512000},"page":"270","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Spread of Tst\u2013Positive Staphylococcus aureus Strains Belonging to ST30 Clone among Patients and Healthcare Workers in Two Intensive Care Units"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Matthaios","family":"Papadimitriou-Olivgeris","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eleanna","family":"Drougka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory for Staphylococci, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fotini","family":"Fligou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vasiliki","family":"Dodou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Intensive Care Unit, Saint Andrew\u2019s General Hospital, 26335 Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4348-6077","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fevronia","family":"Kolonitsiou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kriton","family":"Filos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Evangelos","family":"Anastassiou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory for Staphylococci, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Efthimia","family":"Petinaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41222 Larissa, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markos","family":"Marangos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Iris","family":"Spiliopoulou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory for Staphylococci, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion-Patras, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"860","DOI":"10.1111\/1469-0691.12028","article-title":"The changing epidemiology of bacteraemias in Europe: Trends from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System","volume":"19","author":"Jarlier","year":"2013","journal-title":"Clin. 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