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Abstract:Staphylococcus aureus remains one of the most important opportunistic bacterial pathogens of man and strains resistant to available drug classes have become more and more prevalent in clinical and community settings. The aim of this study was to determine the nasal carriage rates of multidrug -resistant (MDR) Staph aureus in food vendors and hospital workers in Ekpoma, Nigeria, and to assess whether resistance was plasmid -mediated. With the use of sterile swab sticks (Sterilin, UK), one hundred nasal swabs were obtained from consenting volunteers. Each swab was streaked on mannitol salt agar (Difco, Detroit MI) and incubated at 37 0 C for 24hrs. Colonies growing on medium were Gram -stained and tested for catalase, coagulase and mannitol fermentation. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique, and results were interpreted using the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute's guidelines. Results showed that 32 (32%) of the 100 specimens screened yielded Staph aureus, with 18 (36%) and 14 (28%) of the isolates recovered from hospital workers and food vendors, respectively. The prevalence rate in males (40%) compared with females (24%) was not statistically significant (P>0.05), using Student's t-test analysis. All the Staph aureus isolates were susceptible to Augmentin. The highest resistance rates of 65.6%, 59.3% and 50.0% were recorded for Amoxycillin, Ofloxacin and Oxacillin respectively, while low resistance rates were recorded for Gentamicin (9.38%) and Cefuroxime (15.6%). Of the 17 (53%) MDR isolates of Staph aureus, only 4 (23.5%) remained MDR after curing with 0.1mg/ml acridine orange solution. Observance of personal hygiene can reduce the level of contamination or infection of carriers thereby reducing the risk of infection for others in the community, while rational use of antibiotics by health professionals and end users could help to curb the rising trend of antibiotic resistance within the community.

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