Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Carriers Among Medical Students in A Medical School
- Author:
Syafinaz Amin Nordin
;
Nur Ain Nabila Za'im
;
Nurul Nadzirah Sahari
;
Siti Fatimah Jamaluddin
;
Shahram Ahmadi
;
Mohd Nasir Mohd Desa
- Publication Type:Case Reports
- Keywords:
S.aureus, nasal carriers, nasal carriage, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and medical students
- From:
The Medical Journal of Malaysia
2012;67(6):636-638
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus is usually considered a colonizer
but can result in infections under favourable conditions,
especially in the healthcare setting. Healthcare workers can be colonized by S. aureus, and may transmit them to
patients under their care. We conducted a cross sectional
study to determine the prevalence of S. aureus nasal
carriers among medical students in Universiti Putra
Malaysia (UPM) (from January to June 2011). Our study
involved 209 medical students comprising of 111 and 97 preclinical and clinical students respectively. A selfadministered questionnaire was distributed and nasal
swabs were collected. Upon identification, the antibiotic
susceptibility of the isolates was examined followed by
categorical analysis (Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests)
with factors associated with S. aureus nasal carriage.
Twenty one (10%) S. aureus strains were isolated from 209
nasal swab samples. 14 isolates were from pre-clinical
students while the remaining seven were from clinical
students. There was no significant association between
gender, ethnicity, health status, skin infection and students’ exposure to hospital environment with S. aureus nasal carriage (p>0.05). Nineteen (90.5%) isolates were resistant to penicillin and there was also no significant association between penicillin resistant and the students’ groups. One (5.3%) isolate was resistant to erythromycin. There was no methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolated in this study.
