Nasal Carriage Rate of Staphylococcus aureus, Its Associated Factors, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern Among Health Care Workers in Public Hospitals, Harar, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Staphylococcus aureus is the bacteria that colonizes the nasal nares of health-care workers and serves as a reservoir for the spread of pathogen for subsequent infections, mainly Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . However, there is a limited study conducted regarding this topic in Harar, Eastern Ethiopia. Objective The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus , associated factors and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among health-care workers of public hospitals in Harar, Eastern Ethiopia from May 15 to July 30, 2021. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 295 health-care workers. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the participant. Nasal swabs were collected and cultured at 35°C for 24hrs. S. aureus was identified using the coagulase test and catalase test. Methicillin resistance S. aureus (MRSA) was screened using a cefoxitin disc on Muller Hinton agar using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Data were entered into EPI-Info version-7 and transferred to SPSS-20 for analysis. Factors associated with nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus were determined by using chi-square analysis. A p -value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in this study was 15.6% (95% CI: 11.7%, 20.3%) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was 11.2% (95% CI: 7.8%, 15.4%), respectively. Age (P < 0.001), work experience (p < 0.001), working unit (p < 0.02), antibiotic use within 3 months (p < 0.001), hand washing habit (p < 0.01), hand rub use (p < 0.001), living with smokers (p < 0.001), living with pets (p < 0.001) and having chronic diseases (p < 0.001) were found significantly associated with Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage. Conclusion The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are high in our study. The study emphasizes the need for regular surveillance among hospital staff and the environment to prevent MRSA transmission among health-care personnel.

Carriage rate and Antimicrobial resistance Profile of Staphylococcus aureus Among Healthcare Workers at Edna Adan University Hospital

“…In addition, highest colonization rate of MRSA 3(60%) were observed among nurses and doctors 1(50%) followed by midwifes 2(28.6%). Which is coincides with similar study conducted in Harar, Eastern Ethiopia where nursing and doctors carriage of MRSA were reported 15.3%, 11.1% respectively (32). GAZA strip, where nursing and doctors carriage of MRSA were also observed (30.4%) and (16%) respectively (34).…”

“…The present study showed that there was no signi cant association between carriage of MRSA with sex (p = 0.085), Age (p = 0.503), history of hypertension (p = 0.241), history of diabetics (p = 0.124), recent use of antibiotics (p = 0.682), profession (p = 0.440).But it is, however length of healthcare services (p = 0.033) was highly signi cant associated with colonization rate of MRSA which is comparable with similar study done in Ethiopia (32). Furthermore, relatively high carriage rate of MRSA colonization were observed among the males than females in the current study which is in agreement with those reported in Saudi Arabia (35).…”