Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23103172›Full record

SynthesisThe Lancet. Infectious diseases2013

The role of the Panton-Valentine leucocidin toxin in staphylococcal disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Laura J Shallcross, Ellen Fragaszy, Anne M Johnson, Andrew C Hayward

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in The Lancet. Infectious diseases, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 216 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
216citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
10.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

216 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 453 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. International journal of molecular sciences · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
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  7. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026
    Review
  8. The global epidemiology of MRSA.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026
    Review
  9. Clindamycin and daptomycin failure in PVL-positive MRSA infection of the skin and soft tissue.Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft = Journal of the German Society of Dermatology : JDDG · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Methicillin-ResistantInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Genomic comparison of methicillin-resistantFrontiers in microbiology · 2026
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
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  19. Article
  20. Cell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025
    Review

156 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Laura J ShallcrossResearch Department of Infection and Population Health, University College London, London, UK. l.shallcross@ucl.ac.uk
Ellen Fragaszy
Anne M Johnson
Andrew C Hayward
University College London · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0501879
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundInvasive community-onset staphylococcal disease has emerged worldwide associated with Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) toxin. Whether PVL is pathogenic or an epidemiological marker is unclear. We investigate the role of PVL in disease, colonisation, and clinical outcome.

methodsWe searched Medline and Embase for original research reporting the prevalence of PVL genes among Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, bacteraemia, musculoskeletal infection, skin and soft-tissue infection, or colonisation published before Oct 1, 2011. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) to compare patients with PVL-positive colonisation and each infection relative to the odds of PVL-positive skin and soft-tissue infection. We did meta-analyses to estimate odds of infection or colonisation with a PVL-positive strain with fixed-effects or random-effects models, depending on the results of tests for heterogeneity.

resultsOf 509 articles identified by our search strategy, 76 studies from 31 countries met our inclusion criteria. PVL strains are strongly associated with skin and soft-tissue infections, but are comparatively rare in pneumonia (OR 0·37, 95% CI 0·22-0·63), musculoskeletal infections (0·44, 0·19-0·99), bacteraemias (0·10, 0·06-0·18), and colonising strains (0·07, 0·01-0·31). PVL-positive skin and soft-tissue infections are more likely to be treated surgically than are PVL-negative infections, and children with PVL-positive musculoskeletal disease might have increased morbidity. For other forms of disease we identified no evidence that PVL affects outcome.

interpretationPVL genes are consistently associated with skin and soft-tissue infections and are comparatively rare in invasive disease. This finding challenges the view that PVL mainly causes invasive disease with poor prognosis. Population-based studies are needed to define the role of PVL in mild, moderate, and severe disease and to inform control strategies.

fundingNone.

Indexed as

Bacterial ToxinsExotoxinsHumansLeukocidinsSoft Tissue InfectionsStaphylococcal InfectionsStaphylococcal Skin InfectionsStaphylococcus aureusBacterial ToxinsExotoxinsLeukocidinsPanton-Valentine leukocidin

Identifiers

PMID23103172
PMCPMC3530297
OpenAlexW2111015511

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.