Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization Among Health Care Workers of a Tertiary Hospital in Ecuador and Associated Risk Factors

Abstract

Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is resistant to most of the commonly used antibiotics and is therefore a public health issue. Colonization with MRSA is a risk factor for infection or transmission. Purpose To determine the prevalence of colonization with Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and MRSA strains in health care workers (HCWs) at a tertiary hospital in Ecuador and to determine the risk factors associated with carriage. Methods Out of a cohort of 3800 HCWs, 481 individuals from different hospital departments were randomly selected, and a single nasal swab was collected. Detection of SA and MRSA was carried out with the LightCycler ® MRSA Advanced Test. A questionnaire was performed that gathered demographic and occupational information of the participants to determine risk factors for MRSA colonization. Statistical analysis was performed with univariate and multivariate analysis and the R-software version 4.0.2. Results Colonization with SA and MRSA occurred in respectively 23.7% (95% CI, 22.7–24.6) and 5% (95% CI, 3.39–7.58) of the individuals. The multivariate analysis showed that being older in age (OD 1.09) and being male (OD 2.78) were risk factors for SA and MRSA colonization ( p -value < 0.001). Previous use of antibiotics or the use of nasal ointments diminished the colonization rates of SA (24% versus 3.7% and 10.1% respectively). Conclusion About 20% of the HCWs who were colonized with SA were colonized with MRSA, representing a risk for nosocomial infections and hospital outbreaks. Active monitoring and a decolonization treatment of the HCWs can reduce these risks.

High Prevalence of Nasal carriage of Methicillin Resistant Coagulase Negative Staphylococci among Medical Students in a Tertiary Care Institution in North India

“…Several studies have reported rates of nasal carriage of MRSA among healthcare staff ranging from 5.2%-25.5% 7,8,9 . Our rate of 23.2% S.aureus and 4% MRSA is comparable to Baroja et al,2021 from Ecuador 10 . A study from south India has reported prevalence rate of 19.7% of S.aureus nasal colonization in 2 nd year students, who had started clinical postings with MRSA rate of 11.1% 11 .…”

Molecular characteristics and carriage rate of Methicillin- Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pediatric hepatology unit

“…Our results were nearly similar to many previous studies. 15,16,17 Relatively low carriage rate if compared with Gomes et al 18 and Elzorkany et al 19 who found that frequency was 33%, 37.2% among HCWs and higher than Baroja et al 15 who observed that MRSA carriage rate among HCWs was 5%. These variances in MRSA prevalence may be due to differences in measures of infection control applied in each hospital, frequency of antibiotic use, the method of MRSA detection and its sensitivity, and the characters of the studied population Jaradat et al 20 .…”

Four Novel Leaderless Bacteriocins, Bacin A1, A2, A3, and A4 Exhibit Potent Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

“…Drug-resistant pathogens continue to be an important and growing threat to human health and economic development ( 1 – 3 ). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that more than 70% of bacteria causing nosocomial infections are resistant to at least one of the drugs commonly used for treating these infections ( 4 ). According to a study chaired by Jim O’Neill, drug-resistant diseases cause more than 700,000 deaths/year ( 5 ).…”