Frequency of Staphylococci in the Nasal Cavities of Healthy Medical Workers

Abstract

Infective agents are abundant in hospitals, and so medical staff members are often exposed to them. Although previous studies have highlighted the role played by the nasal flora of medical staff in the development of nosocomial infections, few studies have specifically investigated this issue. Six volunteer medical staff members, who worked at Nihon University Hospital at Matsudo, participated in this study. Nasal samples were obtained from the medical staff, and then the samples were cultured and evaluated using routine bacteriological study methods. Staphylococci were detected in the nasal samples of all of the medical staff. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the predominant species in their nasal cavities（71.3％） . None of the medical staff had been infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus（MRSA） , but four of six staff members possessed methicillinresistant coagulase-negative staphylococci（MR-CNS） .Medical staff members are both at risk of infection and also a potential source of nosocomial pathogens such as methicillin-resistant staphylococci. As a preventive measure against nosocomial infection, it might be necessary to continuously investigate the frequency of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in the nasal cavities of medical staff.

Origins of Nasal and Oral Staphylococci

“…We previously reported the isolation frequency of oral and nasal staphylococci (7,8). Staphylococci were detected from both cavities of all six subjects.…”

“…Staphylococcus isolates obtained in our previous studies (7,8) were used. These were isolated from the nasal and oral cavities of six medical workers, who work at Nihon University Hospital at Matsudo.…”

“…Ohara-Nemoto et al (6) previously reported that genotyping using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) provided evidence of nasal-oral trafficking of Staphylococcus species. In our previous studies (7,8), we have found that the presence of Staphylococcus epidermidis was significantly high in the nasal and oral cavities of healthy medical staff. However, the distribution of other Staphylococcus species showed diversity in the nasal and oral cavities.…”

Frequency of Staphylococci in Oral Cavity of Healthy Medical Workers

“…Simultaneously, the nasal cavity samples were also taken from the participants. We previously reported a study on staphylococci in the nasal cavities of medical staff (18) …”

“…Identification of staphylococci from clinical samples was performed as described previously (18). More than 30 colonies on mannitol salt agar were subcultured from each subject using BHI-Y agar plates.…”