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Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage is a risk factor for infection, and eradication of such carriage is increasingly used as a preventive measure. Use of antibacterial agents for decolonization leads to resistance and is often ineffective for long-term eradication. Researchers in Japan now report promising findings regarding the ability of some strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis to inhibit S. aureus colonization by interfering with biofilm formation.
The researchers cultured specimens from the anterior nares of 88 healthy adults; 28 participants (32%) carried S. aureus, and 84 (95%) carried S. epidermidis. Of the 960 S. epidermidis isolates collected, 428 inhibited S. aureus biofilm formation in a coculture assay. Multivariate analysis a…