The comparison of topical nasal Mupirocin and single dose of oral Ciprofloxacin in treatment and reinfection of Staphylococcus Aureus carriers in personnel of Vali-e-asr hospital, Arak, 2004

Staphylococcus Aureus is one of the most important pathogenes in human. Regarding the ability of this bacterium in nasal colonization, carriers can increase the incidence of many nosocomial infections. This study was designed to compare the efficacy of two antimicrobial regimens (topical nasal Mupirocin and oral Ciprofloxacin) in treatment of Staphylococcus Aureus carriers and its recurrence. This study is a triple blind clinical trial that was performed on 366 cases of Vali-e-asr hospital personnel. Nasal cultures were prepared from all these cases. Among them, 45 cases were carriers which were divided in two groups (A and B). Group A were treated by single dose of oral Ciprofloxacin (1500 mg) and Vit A+D ointment as placebo for 5 days (twice a day) and group B were treated by single dose of oral placebo and nasal Mupirocin ointmdent for 5 days (twice a day). After this period, nasal cultures were repeated in the two groups to evaluate the efficacy of treatment. Also after 5 weeks the last cultures were performed in order to determine the prevalence of reinfection. Results were analyzed using Chi-square test. Results showed that, 12.9% of Vali-e-asr hospital personnels were nasal carriers of Staphylococcus Aureus. Also the efficacy of topical nasal Mupirocin regimen (89.5%) was significantly higher than single dose of oral Ciprofloxacin regimen (55%) (p=0.019). But there was no significant difference between prevalence of reinfection in topical (13.3%) and oral regiment (20%). According to the present data, it seems that topical Mupirocin therapy is more effective than single dose of oral Ciprofloxacin in treating Staphylococcus Aureus carriers. However there is no significant difference in the prevalence of reinfection between the two methods.