TABLE 3.

The distribution of S. aureus colonization and toxins production in combined groups of AD patients (both children and adults).

References	Examined groups	Sites of isolation	Colonization of staphylococcus aureus	Toxins production
Leung et al. (1993) United States	Patients with AD (n = 56) Four groups of control patients: - healthy, non-atopic patients (n = 15) - patients with psoriasis (n = 16) - patients with respiratory allergy: allergic rhinitis and asthma (n = 10) - patients with HIE syndrome (n = 7)	AD lesional skin	No data	AD patients sea: 7 (29%), seb: 8 (33%), sec: 0 (0%), sed: 1 (4%), tsst-1: 7 (29%)
Nomura et al. (1999) Japan	Patients with AD (aged 1–22 years n = 39)	Exudative dermatitis Dry dermatitis Normal skin	37 of 39 patients (95%) were colonized with S. aureus on the skin	21 of 37 S. aureus isolates (56.76%) were produced exotoxins sea: 2 (5.1%), seb: 13 (33.3%), sec: 1 (2.6%), sed: 1 (2.6%), tsst-1: 1 (2.6%), sea+seb: 1 (2.6%), seb+sec: 1 (2.6%), seb+tsst-1: 1 (2.6%)
Matsui et al. (2000) Japan	Patients with AD (aged 7–45, n = 26) Healthy group (n = 49)	Lesional Non-lesional skin (face, neck or arm)	96.2% of AD patients on the lesional skin 30.8% of AD patients on the non-lesional skin 10.2% of healthy control subjects on the non-lesional skin	Lesional skin in AD patients (40%, 10/25 patients) sea (4/10, 40%), seb (1/10, 10%), sec (5/10, 50%), sed (0/10, 0%), see (0/10, 0%), tsst-1 (3/10, 30%) Non-lesional skin in AD patients (37.5%, 3/8 patients) sea (0/8, 0%), seb (1/8, 12.5%), sec (1/8, 12.5%), sed (0/8, 0%), see (0/8, 0%), tsst-1 (3/8, 37.5%) Healthy control group (40%, 2/5 patients) sea (2/5, 40%), seb (0/5, 0%), sec (0/5, 0%), sed (0/5, 0%), see (0/5, 0%), tsst-1 (1/5, 20%)
Mempel et al. (2003) Germany	Patients from 5 months to 65 years	Eczematous lesions Anterior nares Axillae	80 of 91 patients (87.9%) were colonized with S. aureus	120 S. aureus strains were tested sea: 14 (12%), seb: 7 (6%), sec: 25 (21%), sed: 9 (8%), see: 0 (0%), egc: 58 (48%), seh: 0 (0%), tsst-1: 8 (7%)
Yagi et al. (2004) Japan	Patients with AD (n = 100) included: - infants (n = 55) - children (n = 28) - adults (n = 17)	No data	No data	81 isolates (81%) produce at least one toxin - nasal cavity: 57(70.4%) - non-lesional area: 33(40.7%) - dry-lesional area: 50(61.7%) - exudative-lesional area: 61(75.3%) sea: 22 (27.2%), seb: 44 (54.3%), sec: 22 (27.2%), sed: 4 (4.9%), tsst-1: 13 (16.0%)
Tomi et al. (2005) Austria	Patients with AD (3 months-60 years, n = 25) Healthy control (n = 25)	Lesional skin or volar site of the elbow Nares area	Atopic dermatitis patients 22/25 patients (88%) - skin only: 0 (0%) - nares only: 7 (32%) - skin and nares: 15 (68%) Healthy control 3/25 patients (12%) - skin only: 1 (33%) - nares only: 2 (67%) - skin and nares: 0 (0%)	Atopic dermatitis patients sec > seb > sea+sed Healthy control None of the strains were toxigenic
Chiu et al. (2009) Singapore	Children and adults with AD, 2–21 years old (n = 34)	Nasal swabs Affected skin	91% were colonized with S. aureus (31/34 of isolates) 85% were colonized both in the skin and in the nose (29/34 S. aureus strains)	sea: 6 (17.6%), seb: 13 (38.2%), sec: 4 (11.8%), sed: 3 (8.8%), egc: 10 (29.4%), seh: 9 (26.5%), sek: 5 (14.7%), sel: 2 (5.9%), tsst-1: 1 (2.9%)
Na et al. (2012) Korea	Patients with AD (n = 39), 1–40 years Healthy control (n = 40)	Antecubital area Popliteal fossa Nasal mucosa	Atopic dermatitis patients: - antecubital area: 10(25.6%) - popliteal fossa: 14(35.8%) - nasal mucosa: 18(46.1%) - overall colonization: 25(64.1%) Healthy control: - antecubital area: 1(2.5%) - popliteal fossa: 2(5%) - nasal mucosa: 7(17.5%) - overall colonization: 8(20%)	sea: 52.6% sea+tsst-1: 42.1% tsst-1: 5.3%
Nada et al. (2012) Egypt	AD patients (5–26 years, n = 30) Healthy control group (n = 30)	From different lesions	AD patients 26 (87%) patients were colonized by S. aureus	14 isolates (54%) of 26 S. aureus strains produced exotoxins with superantigenic properties sea: 1, seb: 8, sec: 4, sed: 1, tsst-1: 4
Soares et al. (2013) Portugal	AD patients (3–35 years, n = 9) Healthy controls (n = 24)	AD patients Samples were collected from the antecubital and popliteal crease Healthy controls Samples were collected from antecubital crease	No data	AD patients (21 S. aureus strains were tested) – 16 (76%) were toxigenic sea: 6 (29%) seg: 14 (66.7%) Other classical toxins (seb-see) were not detected.
Rojo et al. (2014) Spain	Patients with AD and colonized by S. aureus on lesional skin (n = 32) Controls–atopic patients with active allergic disease (asthma, food alergy or rhinitis) and with S. aureus isolated from nose (n = 31)	Skin area Nasal area Inguinal area Perianal area	All of the patients included in the study were colonized by S. aureus	AD patients sea: 14 (43.7%), seb: 0, sec: 7 (21.8%), see: 0, tsst-1: 4 (12.5%) Atopic controls sea: 14 (45.1%), seb: 3 (9.6%), sec: 2 (6.4%), see: 0, tsst-1: 15 (48.4%)
Merriman et al. (2016) United States	AD patients (6–37 years, n = 103)	Lesional AD skin	No data	sea: 7 (6.8%), seb: 6 (5.8%), sec: 11 (11%), sed: 16 (16%), tsst-1: 10 (9.7%)