Investigation of colonization with methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus in an outpatient population in Turkey.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), known as a nosocomial pathogen, has been isolated from community-acquired infections since the 1980s. It has been reported that there are carriers of MRSA in the community although the rate of carriers is low and the most important risk factor of community-acquired carriage is hospitalization or referral to healthcare facilities. We attempted to investigate methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus colonization, respectively, in nasal and axillary swabs obtained from 500 patients without a history of hospitalization who were admitted to outpatient clinics and from 102 healthcare workers chosen as a control group. Of the patients, 9.4% had nasal S. aureus colonization without methicillin-resistant strains. Of the health care workers, 8.8% had S. aureus colonization without methicillin-resistant strains and only one worker had MRSA. The nasal carriage ratio of S. aureus in children was found to be 19.1% (22 of 115), and that in adults was 6.5% (25 of 385). The difference between the two age groups was determined as statistically significant (P = 0.006).