Investigation of eta, etb and etd Exfoliative Toxin Genes in Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from Nursing Students, University Students and Hospital Surfaces

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of exfoliative toxin genes (eta, etb, etd) in S. aureus strains isolated from nursing students, university students and hospital surfaces. A total of 50 S. aureus strains isolated from 20 nursing students, 17 university students and 13 hospital surfaces were used in this study. The presence of exfoliative toxin (ET) genes (eta, etb and etd) was investigated by PCR. PFGE was used to investigate the clonal relationship of ET gene detected isolates. While etd gene was detected in 6% (3/50) in our study, eta and etb genes could not be detected. Two of the isolates with the etd gene were nursing students and one was a university student isolate. No ET gene was detected in any of the hospital surface isolates. It was determined that the isolates with etd gene detected were clonal related. Since S. aureus strains carrying exfoliative genes cause both community and healthcare-associated infections, comprehensive studies are needed to prevent infections that may arise from such strains.