Relative Constancy of Specific Bacteriophage Patterns of Staphylococci Isolated from Oral and Nasal Areas

¹ Departments of Dental Research and Microbiology, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virgina

The incidence of coagulase-positive staphylococci found in 864 oral and 864 nasal samples from 74 dental students over a period of 14 months was 46.6 and 46.1 per cent, respectively. Forty-five different bacteriophage patterns of staphylococci, along with a number of non-typable strains, were found from positive cultures. However, the maximum number of students harboring the same pattern was only 6. Only one bacteriophage pattern was found for an individual in 24 of the 74 students. The constancy of S. aureus in oral and nasal areas of individual students was discussed.