Molecular epidemiologic study of burn wound infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus in children.

115 children with burn injuries were admitted to the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Of the 1554 samples, 276 strains of staphylococcus aureus were isolated from the burn wounds and other sites. The rate of burn wound infection caused by S. aureus was 25.2% (29/115). The 54 epidemic strains of S. aureus all carried 1.6 and 1.9 Md plasmid DNAs belonging to phage type 618, and were resistant to at least 10 antimicrobial agents, including oxacillin, cephalothin and cephaloridine, but sensitive to tobramycin and amikacin. Identical plasmid profiles and phage types of isolated S. aureus indicated that a patient carrying a multi-resistant strain of S. aureus in his anterior nares caused an epidemic of S. aureus wound infection in 13 patients. S. aureus isolated from burn wounds of 8 cases were derived from the contaminated hands of their family members.