Abstract:
Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria that is carried on the skin and and in the nose
of healthy people on a common basis. Because it can easily acquire resistance to all classes of antibiotics
can cause devastating infections in patients that contact the bacteria during their hospitalization.
Knowing the prevalence of the carriage of S. aureus amongst medical personnel is important
to lower the S. aureus infections in inbound patients and also lower the cost and the number of
hospitalization days.
Materials and methods: Nasal swabs were collected from each participant using sterile
swabs. The nasal swabs specimens were transported to the laboratory and processed within 2 hours
of collection. The swab was discharged on blood agar plate and also on manitol salt agar plate,
incubated at 37°C and examined after 24h. The Fisher test was used to calculate the relative risk for
the patients to acquire an S. aureus infection during their hospitalization.
The result of the discussion: From the 177 participants that were involved in the study the S.
aureus colonization amongst them was of 18% of which 2% is represented by MRSA. Even if these
values are not statistically significant (p=0.8230) the knowledge of the carriage on different
departments of the medical unit helps improve the medical care.
Conclusion: Even though the MRSA carriage is only 2%, the nasal carriage can be a risk
factor for nosocomial infections. It is important to comprehend the status of S. aureus carriers
especially MRSA to prevent nosocomial infections.
Description:
Department of Microbiology, Virology and Parasitology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
