Prevalence of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcal Bioaerosols in and around Residential Houses in an Urban Area in Central India

Abstract

Methicillin resistant staphylococci (MRS) commonly found in clinical samples or associated environment pose a major health challenge globally. The carriage rate of MRS in human population is high, especially in India but research on airborne distribution of MRS is scanty. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MRS in indoor and outdoor environment of residential houses. Air samples were collected using impactor air sampler. The total counts of viable bacteria, staphylococci, and MRS along with the particles of various sizes were determined from indoor and outdoor environment of 14 residential houses. MRS bacteria were identified as methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) or coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) employing biochemical and PCR assays. The average concentration of MRS inside and outside of the houses was 5.9% and 4.6% of the total bacteria, respectively. The maximum correlation of total indoor and outdoor bacteria with particulate matter was 10 μm (r = 0.74) and 5 μm (r = 0.84), respectively. Statistically, significant positive correlation of staphylococci and MRS was found with particles of 10–25 μm inside the houses. Molecular surveillance, antibiotic stewardship programme, and infection control policies can help to manage increasing MRS burden in developing countries.

Prevalence and antibiogram of coagulase negative Staphylococci in bioaerosols from different indoors of a university in India

“…Staphylococcus is one of the dominant genera among indoor airborne microbiomes both in hospital and other residential buildings [ 21 , 34 ]. The spread of multidrug resistant Staphylococci in environment from different sources has already been reported in India [ 30 , 35 – 37 ]. Furthermore, Staphylococci species such as MRSA and MR-CNSs are the biggest contributors in the spread of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) in the environment as reported from India and as well as from abroad [ 3 – 5 , 9 , 38 ].…”

“…Lately, multi-drug resistant CNSs have been dominating in all kinds of microbiomes whether it is environmental samples, hospital-wastes, poultry, agricultural farms etc., thereby they are equally clinically relevant [ 15 , 36 , 42 ]. Recent study in India based on bioaerosols also showed the abundance of methicilin resistant Staphylococci in residential buildings in central India [ 37 ]. Yadav et al, have studied the abundance of bacterial and fungal loads in different residential indoor environments near and far from the Gwalior trade fair site [ 30 ].…”

Distribution of Bioaerosols in Association With Particulate Matter: A Review on Emerging Public Health Threat in Asian Megacities

“…From massive traffic junctions of Dehradun city, India, airborne Micrococcus, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus bacterial species were identified in the percentage of 25.73, 17.98, and 13.8%, respectively (Madhwal et al, 2020). Furthermore, methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) S. aureus (MRSA), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were identified in the airborne bioaerosols from India associated with global environmental health (Kumar and Goel, 2016).…”

Role of Bioaerosols on the Short-Distance Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a Chicken Farm Environment

“…Previous studies have shown that the bioaerosols of indoor air in both livestock farming and hospital areas could carry MRSA strains and possibly act as a hotspot for spreading MRSA in the environment [ 10 , 11 ]. MRSA infection was primarily limited to persons directly associated with healthcare facilities with poor immune systems, which is called hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) infection [ 12 ]. Later on, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infection was prevalent in healthy people who had never been hospitalized before.…”