RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS IN ORTHOPAEDIC STAFF

ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the frequency of nasal carriage of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus among orthopedic
staff.
Material and Methods: This Cross sectional (Descriptive study) was conducted in orthopedic staff of Hayat Abad
Medical Complex Peshawar from Oct 2011 till March 2012. 73 orthopaedic staff members of either age and gender
were included. The included staff memebers were those who come in regular contact with orthopaedic patients were
regular employees of orthopedic department. Those were excluded who were not coming in contact with patients and
were not responsible in direct patient care like clerical staff, computer operators were excluded. Culture specimens
were taken from anterior nares of orthopedic staff member and send to the local hospital laboratory for culture. All the
information of orthopedic staff, their culture specimen and their results were recorded in a pre-designed proforma. All
the data collected was entered and analyzed in SPSS (version 17).
Results: Out of 73 orthopedic staff members 72(98.6%) were culture negative and 1(1.4%) was culture positive. Sixty
one (83.6%) were male and 12(16.4%) were female. Out of all included orthopedic staff in this study, 62(84.9%) were
health care workers and 11(15.1%) were non health care workers. All the health care workers were culture negative for
MRSA. 1(9.09%) out of all included non health care workers from orthopedic staff was culture positive for MRSA. All
the included orthopedic staff was within the age range 25 to 55 years. Mean age was 35.01 years ± 7.074.
Conclusion: The frequency of MRSA in orthopedic staff was lower in our study. Factors of low frequency in this region
may be frequent nose wash as in ablution. Muporicin application was found affective in MRSA positive orthopedic staff
member.
Key Words: Frequency, Nasal carriage, Methicllin Resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Orthopedic staff.