Yasunaga Sarai

Mercury Resistance and R Plasmids in Escherichia coli Isolated from Clinical Lesions in Japan

The mercury and antibiotic resistance of 338 strains of Escherichia coli isolated from hospital patients was determined. Resistance to mercury was found in 58.6% of the isolates. The frequencies of resistance to streptomycin (Sm), tetracycline (Tc), chloramphenicol (Cm), kanamycin (Kan), cephaloridine (Cer), and gentamicin (Gm) were 66.3, 60.3, 56.5, 42.9, 32.1, and 1.5%, respectively. Among the above, 198 mercury- and antibiotic-resistant isolates were selected and tested for their ability to transfer the resistance to susceptible strains of E. coli K-12 and Klebsiella pneumoniae JK5. R plasmids carrying mercury resistance were demonstrated in 89.9% of the mercury-resistant strains of E. coli. Furthermore, R(Hg,Sm,Tc,Cm) plasmids were demonstrated most frequently, followed by R(Hg,Sm,Tc,Cm,Kan), R(Hg,Cm,Kan), and R(Hg,Sm,Tc,Cm,Kan,Cer) plasmids.

A Bacteriological Study on Children with Staphylococcal Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis in Japan

From 1973 to 1976, 21 patients with staphylococcal toxic epidermal necrolysis were admitted to the Jikei University Hospital in Tokyo. Of all of them were isolated coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus from various sites. In Japan, unlike in Europe and America, phage group II cocci were found in few cases. On the other hand, S. aureus belonging to other phage groups than group II (I, III mixed group and III group) were very commonly isolated. All the isolates produced exfoliatin which was capable of producing exfoliation in newborn mice. The type (A or B) of exfoliation which was detected by the antiserum agar method did not correlate to the severity of this disease.

Immunological properties in staphylococcal toxic epidermal necrolysis.

The analysis of host defenses in 4 patients with staphylococcal toxic epidermal necrolysis revealed normal serum immunoglobulin levels, but a deficiency in cell-mediated immunity as detected by the tuberculin reactions. We suspected that the transient deficiency of cell-mediated immunity may have contributed to the development of this disease.

Studies of Exfoliatin Producing Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Skin Diseases

Bullous impetigoおよびstaphylococcol toxic epidermal necrolysis(以下STENとする)は黄色ブ菌のなかでexfoliatinを産生するブ菌の感染によつてのみ発症することは一般に知られている。またいろいろな皮膚疾患の病巣部からしばしば黄色ブ菌が分離されることもしられている。そこでいろいろな皮膚疾患から分離された黄色ブ菌のうちどの程度のブ菌がexfoliatinを産生するかを検討した結果bullous impetigo, STENおよびその他2·3の皮膚疾患の皮膚病巣部, 鼻腔, 咽頭部から分離された黄色ブ菌177株のうち90株51%のみがexfoliatinを産生するブ菌であつた。