Prevalence of nasal Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospital personnel and associated risk factors.

Hospital- and community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections pose a substantial burden in terms of morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. The extent of nosocomial S. aureus transmission, in particular methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), the prevalence of S. aureus colonization in healthy personnel working in hospital was determined. Factors associated with S. aureus nasal carriage and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates were also analyzed. A total of 129 nasal swabs and epidemiological information concerning risk factors for nasal carriage were obtained from physicians, nurses, sanitary workers and administrative staff. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion method. The prevalence of S. aureus and MRSA nasal carriage was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in physicians (51.8%, 18.5%), nurses (66.6%, 27.3%) and sanitary workers (59%, 13.6%) as compared to administrative staff (27.6%, 2.1%). There was no association between smoking and nasal S. aureus carriage (p = 0.006) and the isolates from physician. The nurses and sanitary workers were comparatively more resistant to various antibiotics than the isolates from administrative staff.