Prevalence of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Carriage amongst Health Care Workers of Critical Care Units in Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Mangalore, India

Abstract

Background: Outbreaks and prevalence of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Nosocomial Infection (NI) among various populations have been well reported in literature, particularly those from developed countries. There is a paucity of information on carriage of MRSA in developing nations, including the carriage by critical healthcare givers who are potential transmitters.Aim and Objectives: Present study was aimed at establishing the carriage rate of MRSA among healthcare workers in the critical care units of Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Mangalore, India and at formulating an MRSA control policy, based on the outcomes. Material and Methods:We screened 200 health care workers in the critical care units of the Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Man galore, India, for MRSA and vancomycin sus ceptibility of the isolates. Swabs taken from both anterior nares were transported, inoculated onto mannitol salt agar (MSA) and incubated aerobically at 37°C for 1824 hours. Gram positive cocci in clusters, with positive catalase, coagulase and DNAse tests, were identified as S.aureus. Further categorization of S.aureus into MRSA was done by using cefoxitin disc diffusion method. Sensitivity to vancomycin was tested by vancomycin disc diffusion and vancomycin agar screen plating. Results:The number of strains of S. aureus which was isolated from our 200 participants was 35, with a rate of 17.5% of the 35 isolates of S. aureus, 5 (14.3%) were MRSA. None of the S. aureus strains were vancomycin resistant. Conclusion:MRSA carriage among healthcare workers who were involved in the management of critically ill patients at Kasturba Medical College hospital, Mangalore, India was 2.5%, which is comfortably low. The existing infection control policy in our hospital seems to be effective and the same should be maintained. INTRODUCTIONStaphylococcus aureus is one of the commonest human bacterial pathogens which is capable of causing a wide range of infections, especially through cross infection spread from patient to patient in hospitals and in other institutional settings. In contrast, healthy individuals have a small risk of contracting invasive infections caused by S. aureus. However, they can be carriers of the organism [1]. The incidence of community -acquired and hospital acquired S. aureus infections has been rising, with increasing emergence of drug resistance strains which are called methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), which have become endemic worldwide within the past two decades [2][3][4]. Infections caused by MRSA are associated with worse outcomes, in addition to prolonged hospital stays, higher costs of treatment and increased mortality [5]. MRSA has become a global problem. In recent years, dissemination of MRSA has been increasingly recognized in other healthcare settings, including primary care [6]. Similarly, healthcare providers are also exposed to patients with MRSA infection and/or are colonized in the course of their work [7]. The ecological niches of S. aureus strains are the anteri...

Nasal carriage, risk factors and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus among healthcare workers in Adigrat and Wukro hospitals, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

“…Kanamycin also showed lower resistance compared with similar study in Serbia (90.3%) [ 27 ]. On the other hand, our finding was higher compared to studies conducted in India [ 28 ] ciprofloxacin (20%), and Gaza Strip erythromycin, tetracycline, gentamycin, clindamycin, and ciprofloxacin (19.6%), (9.8%), (3.9%), (3.92%), and (3.92%) respectively [ 17 ]. This resistance pattern of our finding might be due to excessive use of this antibiotics for many other infections and replacing of sensitive strains by resistance strains at the hospital settings.…”

Nasal carriage of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus among health care workers at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza Strip

“…Our reported rate of S. aureus colonization is also higher than that reported by other studies conducted in Arabic countries and other developing countries like Libya (12.4%; [30], India (17.5%; [31], West Bank of Palestine (20.8%; [11] and Kuwait (21%; [32]. …”

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureas: An Interventional Study Among Health Care Workers of Surgical Icu at Zagazig University Hospital, Egypt

“…The study showed relatively high prevalence of MRSA colonization among medical staff ( Table 2) which was in contrary to other study conducted in India reported comfortably low (2.5%) MRSA carriage among healthcare workers who were involved in the management of critically ill patients (Radhakrishna et al, 2013). Also other study reported high prevalence of colonization (19%) among their medical staff (Bisaga et al, 2008).…”

“…ICUs are particularly appropriate for the rapid emergence and spread of MRSA. Patients in the ICU have special risk factors make them extremely vulnerable to healthcare associated MRSA (Radhakrishna et al, 2013).…”