Detection of Staphylococcus aureus by 16S rRNA directed in situ hybridisation in a patient with a brain abscess caused by small colony variants
Year: 2003
Type: article
Study design: Case Report
Abstract: A 45 year old man was admitted to hospital with a right sided facial paralysis and three month history of seizures. Computed tomography showed a left temporal mass including both intracerebral and extracerebral structures. Ten years earlier the patient had undergone a neurosurgical intervention in the same anatomical region to treat a subarachnoid haemorrhage. In tissue samples and pus obtained during neurosurgery, Staphylococcus aureus was detected by a 16S rRNA-directed in situ hybridisation technique. Following long term cultivation, small colony variants (SCV) of methicillin resistant S aureus were identified. The patient was treated successfully with a combination of vancomycin and rifampin followed by prolonged treatment with teicoplanin, with no sign of infection on follow up nine months after discharge. This is the first report in which S aureus SCV have been identified as causative organisms in a patient with brain abscess and in which in situ hybridisation has been used to detect S aureus in a clinical specimen containing SCV. Antimicrobial agents such as rifampin which have intracellular activity should be included in treatment of infections caused by S aureus SCV.
Author: F Kipp
Institutions: University of Münster, University Hospital Münster
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2081183044