Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus: frequency and molecular diversity in a randomly sampled Norwegian community population.

A randomly selected, healthy Norwegian community population was studied for nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to describe frequency and molecular diversity in a non-hospital cohort (n = 95). Multilocus sequence typing revealed 31 sequence types (STs) belonging to 15 clonal complexes (CCs). The majority of isolates (71%) were classified as CC 15, 30 or 45. This clustering was confirmed by spa typing. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of CCs between this community population and a previously studied group of orthopaedic health care workers from a hospital in the same community. The study may indicate that microbial and host factors may be stronger determinants for S. aureus colonization than exposures associated with the hospital environment.