Occurrence of toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 producing Staphylococcus aureus and the anti TSST-1 serostatus of hospital personnel in Nigeria.

Of the 56 S. aureus strains tested, five (8.9%) isolates (four from asymptomatic nasal carriage and one from a non TSS staphylococcal disease) demonstrated TSST-1 production in vitro. Among the toxin positive strains the clinical isolate belonged to phage group I, 29/52 and the nasal carriage isolates were either non typable or ungroupable. Eighty-nine percent of isolates including all TSST-1 positive strains showed binding to crystal violet and were traced to S. aureus var. hominis (CV type C/D). A. aureus var. bovis (CV type A/B) were found only in nasal carriage group (10.7%) and did not bind crystal violet. During the sero-surveillance 101 out of 220 hospital personnel (48.1%) showed TSST-1 antibodies of IgG class at 1:1000 sera dilution. The four individuals with asymptomatic nasal carriage of TSST-1 positive staphylococci showed no antibody to the toxin. Anti TSST-1 levels persisted in 58 (57.4%) and 10 (9.9%) individuals at higher sera dilutions of 10(-4) and 10(-5) respectively.