Quantification of within-patient Staphylococcus aureus phenotypic heterogeneity as a proxy for the presence of persisters across clinical presentations

Bär, Julian; Boumasmoud, Mathilde; Mairpady Shambat, Srikanth; Vulin, Clément; Huemer, Markus; Schweizer, Tiziano A; Gómez-Mejia, Alejandro; Eberhard, Nadia; Achermann, Yvonne; Zingg, Patrick O; Mestres, Carlos A; Brugger, Silvio D; Schuepbach, Reto A; Kouyos, Roger D; Hasse, Barbara; Zinkernagel, Annelies S

doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2022.01.021

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Bär, J., Boumasmoud, M., Mairpady Shambat, S., Vulin, C., Huemer, M., Schweizer, T. A., Gómez-Mejia, A., Eberhard, N., Achermann, Y., Zingg, P. O., Mestres, C. A., Brugger, S. D., Schuepbach, R. A., Kouyos, R. D., Hasse, B., & Zinkernagel, A. S. (2022). Quantification of within-patient Staphylococcus aureus phenotypic heterogeneity as a proxy for the presence of persisters across clinical presentations. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 28(7), 1022.e1-1022.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2022.01.021

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Difficult-to-treat infections caused by antibiotic-susceptible strains have been linked to the occurrence of persisters, a subpopulation of dormant bacteria that tolerate antibiotic exposure despite lacking genetic resistance. These persisters can be identified phenotypically by plating on nutrient agar because of their altered growth dynamics, resulting in colony-size heterogeneity. The occurrence of within-patient bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity in various infections and clinical determinants of persister formation re