Nasal Carriage Of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Among Health Workers In High Risk Units In A Tertiary Hospital In North Western Nigeria

Background: Infections with Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have become a major challenge to healthcare delivery, because of the difficulty in treating them. Carriage of this multidrug resistant organism by individuals has been the means by which it persists in the environment. Healthcare workers tend to become colonized due to their close contact to patients and poor adherence to infection control. The aim of this study was to determinethe nasal carriage of MRSA among healthcare workers in high risk units of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH)l, Zaria and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates. Methods & Materials: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between January to November 2014. Using stratified random sampling among different categories of healthcare workers, nasal swabs were collected, screened for MRSA using cefoxitin disk diffusion, then confirmed by testing for the mecA gene product using latex agglutination test for PBP2a. Results: From the 427 health workers swabbed, 81 (19%) S. aureus isolates were identfied using Staphaurex®, among which 10 (12.3%) screened MRSA positive using cefoxitin disk, all of which were confirmed by Oxoid latex agglutination test for PBP2’ to be MRSA, giving an overall nasal carriage of 2.3% for MRSA from the total population studied. Carriage was found mainly among nurses (60%) and doctors (40%), with the highest proportions from oncology (50%) and orthopaedic (25%) units. There was no significant difference in carriage between the ages (P = 0.702), and length of stay in the various high risk units (P = 0.89). The highest resistance rates were to penicillin (90.1%), then sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim (28.4%), however, there was almost universal (98.8%) susceptibility to gentamiicin and complete susceptibility to rifampicin (100%). Most (60%) of the MRSA isolates were however multidrug resistant. Nasal carriage of MRSA Conclusion: The carriage from this study is low compared to what has been reported from other parts of Nigeria. The pattern of resistance to other antibiotics tally with reports from other centers in Africa. Continuous vigilance, improved infection control practices and antibiotic stewardship program is necessary to maintain this low prevalence. Antibiotic susceptibility of S. aureus isolates