Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization in Emergency Department Personnel
Received 29 February 2008; received in revised form 14 March 2008; accepted 21 March 2008. published online 25 April 2008.
Refers to article:
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Colonization Among Health Care Personnel in the Emergency Department: What Does It Tell Us?
John A. Jernigan
Annals of Emergency Medicine
November 2008 (Vol. 52, Issue 5, Pages 534-536) Full Text |
Full-Text PDF (69 KB)
Study objective
Nasal colonization with Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can precede infection in patients and contacts. Although general population S aureus/MRSA rates are well described, the prevalence of S aureus and MRSA nasal colonization in emergency department health care workers is not defined. We seek to determine the prevalence of S aureus and MRSA nasal colonization among ED health care workers without evidence of an active site of staphylococcal infection and identify variables associated with colonization.
Methods
We prospectively studied a convenience sample of ED health care workers from 5 urban teaching hospitals in Pittsburgh, PA. Each participant completed a questionnaire and nasal culturing. We tested susceptibility with the oxacillin disc diffusion method. We analyzed data with descriptive statistics and univariate regression, with α set at 0.05.
Results
Of 255 subjects, 23% were physicians; 62% were nurses, nursing assistants, or patient care technicians; and 15% were clerical staff or social service workers. Of 81 (31.8%) S aureus isolates, 11 (13.6%) were MRSA, an overall prevalence of 4.3%. All positive MRSA samples were from nurses, nursing assistants, or patient care technicians. No other covariate had an association with S aureus or MRSA colonization.
Conclusion
In this urban ED health care worker population, the prevalence of S aureus is similar but MRSA nasal colonization is higher than previously reported estimates in the general population of the United States. Physicians and nonpatient contact ED health care workers did not have MRSA colonization.
University of Pittsburgh Department of Emergency Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
Address for correspondence: Brian Suffoletto, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, 230 McKee Place, Suite 400, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; 412-901-6892, fax 412-647-6669
Supervising editors: David A. Talan, MD; Michael L. Callaham, MD
Author contributions: BPS, EHC, KI, and DMY were responsible for data collection, analysis, and interpretation and article preparation and revision. KI and DMY were responsible for conception of the study. BPS takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.
Drs. Talan and Callaham were the supervising editors on this article. Dr. Yealy did not participate in the editorial review or decision to publish this article.
Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article, that might create any potential conflict of interest. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement. Dr. Suffoletto is supported by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Institutional Training grant.
Publication dates: Available online April 24, 2008.
ABSTRACT