Determination of Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and Antimicrobial Resistance among Hospital Personnel in Razi Hospital Ahwaz, Spring 2003

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important pathogen and is one of the most common infectious agents in hospitals. S. arerus induces serious complications in hospitalized patients. Medical staffs are the main source of infection in hospital and transmit this organism to patients. Thus a study on prevalence of S. aureus carriage among health care personnel may provide a valuable information for infection control programs. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study included 240 hospital personnel. The specimens were obtained with swabs from the anterior nares or nasopharynx, the ecological niches of S. aureus, and cultured according standard guidelines. MRSA strains detection was achieved with disk diffusion method. Antibiotic susceptibility of S. aureus strains was determined with disk diffusion method according to the recommendations of the producer (PadtanTeb Company). The results showed that the prevalence of nasal pharyngeal and nasopharyngeal carriage among the attending staff were 22.5, 6.3 and 2.9 respectively. While 82 % of the S. aureus were MRSA. There was a significant difference between the prevalence of among the personnel working in the orthopedic's ward, operating room and the rest of the staff in other departmens (p < 0.05). All MRSA strains were susceptible to vancomycin. No significant differences were found between resistant to methicillin and host factors such as sex, age and duration of occupation. In conclusion with regarding to the high prevalence of carriage state in hospital staff, identification, treatment and eradication of S. aureus can prevent transmission this organism to patients and provide a good measure to control nosocomial staphylococcal infection in hospitalized patient.