Staphylococcus aureus injection drug use-associated bloodstream infections are propagated by community outbreaks of diverse lineages

Abstract

Plain language summary Persons who inject drugs are at increased risk of developing a bloodstream infection caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. To investigate whether this risk is due to transmission of the bacterium within this community, we compared the complete set of genes (genome) of S. aureus isolated from people with bloodstream infections who do and do not inject drugs. S. aureus causing bloodstream infections in persons who inject drugs were much more likely to belong to one of multiple networks of very closely related subtypes, demonstrating that in some communities the bacteria causing this type of infection can likely be directly transmitted from person to person through high-risk injection drug use practices, such as sharing needles. Therefore, invasive infections in persons who inject drugs can spread like communicable diseases and this can inform future policy on how to prevent them.