ABSTRACT
This chapter presents data on interspecies interference. Bacterial interference with other oropharyngeal organisms has also been studied in a number of sites including the inhibitory effects of certain strains of S. aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, streptococci, and pneumococci on each other. Studies on the ability of a low virulent strain of 5. aureus (502 A) to interfere with nasal carriage of virulent S. aureus suggested that there also was bacterial interference by unrelated strains. In newborn infants with coagulase-negative staphylococci in the anterior nose, there was less acquisition of the inoculated 502 A strain than in infants in whom coagulase-negative staphylococci were not present. However, even in patients who were not carriers of S. aureus, the persistence rate of the inoculated 502 A strain was significantly greater in subjects treated with oxacillin before challenging with the 502 A strain than subjects treated with placebo.
