Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 56, 54-56, 2003

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Original Article

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Prevalence in Community in Area of East Delhi

Sonal Saxena*, Kavita Singh and Vibha Talwar

Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences & Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, India

(Received June 24, 2002. Accepted April 10, 2003)

SUMMARY: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to be an important nosocomial pathogen. Various hospital-based studies have described the incidence of MRSA and carriage of this organism in health care workers. Recently, even community acquired S. aureus strains have shown resistance to methicillin. This changing epidemiology prompted us to study the nasal carriage of MRSA amongst healthy individuals in a community. A total of 319 nasal swabs were taken from both anterior nares of healthy parents attending a well-baby clinic. Of these, 94 yielded growth of S. aureus (29.4%). Out of these 94 isolates, 17 (18.1%) were found resistant to oxacillin. These strains showed low level resistance only to clindamycin.



*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences & Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Shahdara, Delhi-110095, India. E-mail: sonalsaxena3@rediffmail.com


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