A bacteriological comparison was undertaken between the two staphylococcal species to determine rates of antimicrobial drug resistance, and the presence of toxin genes found in S. aureus. The antimicrobial drugs tested were those prescribed at least once to the study cohort. Rates of resistance to penicillin were similar between the two species, but rates of resistance were notably lower in S. argenteus for the remainder of the drugs tested (Fig. 2b). Specifically, S. argenteus resistance was only observed in a single isolate for two additional drugs (erythromycin and clindamycin). PCR was used to define the presence of nine toxin genes in the two species (Fig. 2c). Only two toxin genes (pvl and seb) were detected in S. argenteus, which were present at a frequency of 16% (9/58) and 2% (1/58), respectively. All nine pvl-positive isolates were confirmed by MLST as ST2250. By comparison, eight of the genes tested were detected in S. aureus at a variable frequency (Fig. 2c). pvl was detected in 51% (129/253) of S. aureus, which is consistent with previous studies based in the same geographical region [22].