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The Microbiology of Colonization, Including Techniques for Assessing and Measuring Colonization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

John N. Greene
John N. Greene*
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious Diseases, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
*
Department of Infectious Diseases, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida, 12902 Magnolia Dr, Tampa, FL 33612-9497
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Abstract

Organisms living on our external and internal body surfaces are the first contact for many potentially pathogenic invaders. Factors that alter this microenvironment include antibiotics, the host immunity, and the various diseases of man and their treatment. Predicting when colonization leads to infection remains an important challenge for every clinician. The maintenance and breakdown of colonization resistance by changes in the native microflora and the body's natural mucosal coating by various extrinsic and intrinsic factors is reviewed in this article. Quantitative culture methods developed to improve the predictive value of a given sampling technique (most notably with bronchoscopy) is presented. Besides improving diagnostic capabilities, quantitative cultures can be used successfully as an epidemiologic tool for some outbreak investigations.

Information

Type
Symposium: Nosocomial Colonization
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , February 1996 , pp. 114 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1996 

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