Small‐colony variants and phenotype switching of intracellular <i><scp>S</scp>taphylococcus aureus</i> in chronic rhinosinusitis

Abstract

Regulation of S. aureus virulence factors is a dynamic process, and exposure to the intracellular environment appears to provide the necessary conditions to enable these alterations in an attempt for the bacterium to survive and persist within host tissues. Further work is required to ascertain whether SCVs in CRS hold a clinically relevant pathogenic role in recalcitrant disease.