Observations on community associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage

Background & Objectives: Community associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are becoming increasingly important. Present study was conducted to know CA-MRSA prevalence in apparently healthy individuals, colonization sites and antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Methods: It was a prospective, hospital based study in which 200 healthy individuals (accompanying the patients attending outdoor services at a tertiary care center) with no history of recent hospitalization/surgery, and antibiotic intake were randomly enrolled as study subjects. A total of 600 samples one each from nose, throat and axilla, were collected. 100 admitted patients were enrolled as controls to look for acquisition of hospital acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA). Results: A total of 204 S. aureus isolates were recovered from 116 subjects in the study group; maximum yield was from throat, followed by anterior nares. Of these, 41.2% (84/204) were MRSA as detected by oxacillin MIC by agar dilution method. Over all CA-MRSA colonization at one or more body sites was found in 23.5% (47/200) of study subjects. The antibiotic susceptibility testing showed 25% of CAMRSA to be resistant to clindamycin. Interpretation and conclusions: A considerably high proportion of the population (23.5%) in study group was colonized with CA-MRSA and throat was the commonest site for both S. aureus and MRSA carriage. Copyright (C) 2013, INDIACLEN. Publishing Services by Reed Elsevier India Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved.