Biotyping of Staphylococcus Aureus Isolates Collected from Nasal Cavity of Healthcare Workers in Amiral-Momenin Hospital, Zabol, Iran

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is one of the most important etiological agents of Blood stream infections, urinary tract infections and respiratory tract infections. Rapid and precise typing of S. aureus is a prerequisite for epidemiological surveillance and controlling of infection caused by this bacterium. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine different biotypes of S. aureus isolated from nasal cavity of Amir-almomenin hospital health care workers. In this study, a total of 278 nasal swabs were collected. The isolates were identified using conventional microbiology tests. Finally, biotypes were determined by standard biotyping methods. Of 278 collected samples, 31 (11%) were known as nasal carriage of S. aureus. Based on the biotyping methods, 19% of isolates belonged to human ecovars, while 45% and 29% of isolates were classified as bovine and ovine ecovars, respectively. Meanwhile, 6% of isolates were found to be non-host specific (NHS) biotypes by this method. The results of the present study showed that in studied hospital, healthcare staff samples were frequently contaminated by strains belonging to various ecovars. However, among host specific (HS) biotypes, bovine ecovar was the most common biotype. The results show that different ecovars can be transmitted between various hosts.