Peculiarities of the skin staphylococcal microflora in athletes of different specializations

Abstract

The aim of the present paper was to study the peculiarities of the staphylococcal microflora in athletes of different specializations. 2 groups of athletes were examined: 40 athletes training on land and 51 representatives of water sports. A comparison group was composed of 39 people having clinically healthy skin and of 60 people with skin diseases. Bacterial inoculations were carried out by the method of imprints on a selective agar-containing medium. The examination results showed that Staphylococcus aureus was the prevailing staphylococci species in the 1^st group of athletes (60% of the examined number) and in the 2^nd group of athletes (51%), as well as in the group of healthy carriers (30.8%) and in the group of sick individuals (78.3%). Infection with Staphylococcus aureus in all the examined people was approximately similar and on the average it was of 3000 CFU/dm². We isolated MRSA strains of Staphylococcus aureus in water sport athletes at the frequency of 3.9%, and in the athletes training on land, at the frequency of 10%. In the comparison groups, the MRSA strains were detected only in 11.7% of patients with a skin disease.