Colonization of Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in ICU wards: A cross-sectional study

Background:Methicillin-resistant S.aurous (MRSA) is a major problem in ICU wards. This research aimed to determine the rate of the colonization of MRSA strains in ICUs of Zahedan hospitals.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between 2008 and 2009 in Zahedan Hospital. Two point times cultivated nasal swab specimen was achieved. Patients underwent for cultivating nasal swab specimens at the discharge time if their nasal swab specimens were negative at the beginning of the hospitalization in the ICU. The resistance of positive specimens was determined using E-Test method, after isolating and detecting of the bacterium.Results: At the discharge time, 84 (17.5%) patients were colonized by S. aureus (51 cases by MSSA and 33 by MRSA). Therefore, the frequency of MRSA site in the nose of the patients admitted in ICU was 6.9%. The average age of patients colonized by MRSA was about 31.6 years, and the gender distribution was 22 males versus 11 females. The most sites occurred at the first five days of hospitalization. The Central vein catheter showed the highest rate of infection.81Conclusions: The study showed a low colonization of MRSA in the community. Comparing with this low frequency in the community, colonization of MRSA was high in the ICU setting. Policymakers and clinicians should take into account transmission conditions in this setting to prevent infections.

Keywords:

Methicillin , Staphylococcus aureus , MRSA , intensive care unit , Hospital Infections