FIG 1.

Growth of S. aureus in nasal secretions correlates with host nasal S. aureus load. Subjects self-collected nasal swabs and secretions every 4 to 7 days. (A and B) Donors 832 (A) and 837 (B) were persistent S. aureus carriers (all swabs positive for S. aureus as determined by CFU) for over a year. Open circles represent the fold growth (left y axis) of unique nasal S. aureus strains in the donor’s nasal fluids that were collected in different weeks (NF no. 1 to 3, x axis). Red asterisks represent the donor nasal S. aureus load (right y axis) matching the day the NF was collected. (C) Nasal S. aureus load (x axis, log scale) versus S. aureus fold growth in NF ex vivo (y axis, log scale) for 17 unique nasal fluids. Correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r) and statistics are shown in the box, as is a regression line depicting the positive correlation.