S. Aureus Research Paper

Staph infections are caused by a staphylococcus bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus is a purple, cocci shaped cell with its morphological arrangements in grape-like clusters, it is determined by a bacteriological stain, known as the Gram stain. This determines it to be a gram positive bacterium. When grown on bacteriological media, S. aureus appears as a large white to golden colony. It is not very fastidious but it grows well, either aerobically or under anaerobic conditions and produces good growth within 24 hours (2). They grow in a pH of 4.2 to 9.3 and in salt concentrations of up to 15%, they belong to the Staphylococcaceae family (3). The host for this microorganism are humans, many animals both wild and domestic acts as reservoirs also. It is a type of bacteria commonly found in the intestinal, genitourinary and upper respiratory tracts; such as nose and skin, sometimes hair as well as
aureus is a part of the normal human flora and usually doesn’t cause harm; it is also classified as a major pathogen. As explained, although sometimes beneficial to humans, most staph infections can cause overwhelming infection in many systems of the body; they have the potential to cause a range of minor illnesses such as skin infections, abscesses, cellulitis to much more serious infections such as bloodstream infections and also pneumonia. The most popular infections caused by S. aureus are skin and soft tissue infections such as abscesses or cellulitis (4). The symptoms usually include redness, swelling, and pain at the site of infection. Most of these skin infections resolve without treatment, however, some infections require incision and drainage or antibiotic treatment to cure the infection. S. aureus also causes staph food poisoning which results from contaminated food (7). It yields symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and in more severe cases, dehydration, muscle cramping, and changes in blood pressure and pulse rate may also