Systematic Analysis of Efflux Pump-Mediated Antiseptic Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus Suggests a Need for Greater Antiseptic Stewardship

Abstract

S. aureus remains a significant cause of disease within hospitals and communities. To reduce the burden of S. aureus infections, antiseptics are ubiquitously used in our daily lives. Furthermore, many antiseptic compounds are dual purpose and are found in household products. The increased abundance of antiseptic compounds has selected for S. aureus strains that carry efflux pumps that increase resistance to antiseptic compounds; however, the effect of carrying multiple pumps within S. aureus is unclear. We demonstrated that an isogenic strain carrying multiple efflux pumps had an additive resistance phenotype to cetrimide. Moreover, in a strain carrying qacA and norA , increased chlorhexidine tolerance was observed after the strain was preexposed to subinhibitory concentrations of a different common-use antiseptic. Taken together, our findings demonstrate cooperation between antiseptic resistance efflux pumps and suggest that their protective phenotype may be exacerbated by priming with subinhibitory concentrations of household antiseptics.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 26, 2020
Source ID
10.1128/msphere.00959-19

Entities

People

  • Audrey C. Bochi-layec
  • D Scott Merrell
  • Gina Dabbah-krancher
  • Joshua Stanbro
  • Mark P Simons
  • Patrick T. Labreck

Organizations

  • Naval Medical Research Center
  • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Immunology
  • Molecular and genetic basis of cancer.
  • Trauma Surgery or Emergency Medicine.