Point surveillance of staphylococcus aureus carriage among medical staff in infectious diseases hospital, Kuwait
Medical Principles and Practice. 2003; 12 (3): 139-44
in En
| IMEMR
| ID: emr-63876
Responsible library:
EMRO
ABSTRACT
To investigate the carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among doctors and nurses in Infectious Diseases Hospital, Kuwait, following the detection of 3 cases of methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA]. Materials and A total of 260 nasal and throat swabs were obtained from 19 doctors and 111 nurses and cultured for the carriage of S. aureus. Forty-three S. aureus were identified based on their growth characteristics on mannitol-salt agar, catalase and tube coagulase and DNA hydrolysis. The isolates were tested for susceptibility to antibacterial agents and typed by phage typing; plasmid analysis and pulsed-field electrophoresis were carried out to determine their relatedness. Of the 19 doctors, 4 [21%] had nasal carriage while only 1 of them had a throat carriage. Sixteen [14.4%] nurses carried S. aureus in their noses and 20 [18%] in their throats. The combined nasal carriage rate for both doctors and nurses was 15.8%, and combined throat carriage was 16.6%. None of them carried MRSA. The isolates were resistant to penicillin G [90%], tetracycline [23.3%], erythromycin [9.3%] and cadmium [100%]. Typing of the isolates showed a variety of phage types, plasmid and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns. Discussion:
None of the doctors or nurses carried MRSA. Typing of the methicillin-susceptible strains that they carried demonstrated that the S. aureus were different, indicating an absence of a dominant clone capable of spreading. It is important to maintain a low carriage of S. aureus among health-care workers
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Index:
IMEMR
Main subject:
Plasmids
/
Carrier State
/
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
/
Communicable Diseases
/
Methicillin Resistance
/
Hospitals
/
Medical Staff, Hospital
Type of study:
Screening_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Med. Princ. Pract.
Year:
2003