Risk factors for Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S aureus colonization among health care workers in pediatrics departments

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

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.

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

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.

The History of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Brazil

Since the emergence of MRSA in the 1960s, a gradual increase in infections by resistant bacteria has been observed. Clinical manifestations may vary from brand to critical condition due to host risk factors, as well as pathogen virulence and resistance. The high adaptability and pathogenic profile of MRSA clones contributed to its spread in hospital and community settings. In Brazil, the first MRSA isolates were reported in the late 1980s, and since then different genetic profiles, such as the Brazilian epidemic clone (BEC) and other clones considered a pandemic, became endemic in the Brazilian population. Additionally, Brazil's MRSA clones were shown to be able to transfer genes involved in multidrug resistance and enhanced pathogenic properties. These events contributed to the rise of highly resistant and pathogenic MRSA. In this review, we present the main events which compose the history of MRSA in Brazil, including numbers and locations of isolation, as well as types of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) found in the Brazilian territory.

Colonização bacteriana e resistência antimicrobiana em trabalhadores de saúde: revisão integrativa

Resumo Objetivo: Analisar as evidências científicas disponíveis na literatura sobre os microrganismos que colonizam os trabalhadores de saúde e sua associação com a resistência a antimicrobianos. Métodos: Revisão integrativa de literatura. A busca dos estudos primários foi realizada nas bases de informação: National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science, Scopus e Biblioteca virtual em saúde. Os descritores utilizados foram aplicados de acordo com particularidades de cada base de dados e obtidos por consulta nos Descritores de Ciências em Saúde e Medical Subject Headings. Resultados: A revisão foi composta de 14 estudos primários. Na análise das amostras as pesquisas encontraram principalmente Staphylococcus aureus e Staphylococcus aureus resistente a meticilina colonizando os trabalhadores de saúde. A resistência das bactérias à clindamicina e oxacilina apresentaram maior destaque nas amostras. Conclusão: O Staphylococcus aureus foi evidenciado nos estudos como principal bactéria colonizadora dos trabalhadores de saúde. A preocupação é que essas bactérias apresentam grande capacidade de resistência aos antibióticos beta-lactâmicos.

Poor survival of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus on inanimate objects in the public spaces

We investigated the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus on shopping baskets in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Multilocus sequence typing was performed to determine the genotypes of S. aureus isolates, and then a polymerase chain reaction method was used to detect staphylococcal enterotoxins and antibiotic resistance genes. In addition, desiccation tolerance of S. aureus isolates was evaluated in vitro. Forty‐six (6.2%) S. aureus isolates were collected from 740 shopping baskets, though only one MRSA strain was identified. In multilocus sequence typing findings, ten sequence types and 24 singletons were classified, which were divided into ten clonal complexes and six singletons. The most frequent staphylococcal enterotoxin gene was seg (30.4%). Our in vitro findings demonstrated that 70% of the S. aureus isolates, including the MRSA strain, became undetectable at 12 h after desiccation at an appropriate cell density, while the others remained viable for up to 24 h. Thus, it is difficult for MRSA organisms to survive on dry surfaces found in public areas. We speculated that inanimate objects in the community are unlikely to be a potential source for transmission of MRSA and that S. aureus on such objects outside of hospital settings is not a public health threat.