Incidence of Community acquired MRSA in the nasal swabs of general population of Gulbarga region

Abstract

Background: Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a major pathogen in both community and hospital settings. Nasal carriage of S. aureus represents a major risk factor for the development of infection with this bacterium. Objective: The aim was to study community acquired MRSA incidence among nasal swabs of general population of Gulbarga. Methods: Nasal swabs from anterior nares were collected for the isolation of S. aureus from 224 individuals including Microbiology Department students and general population of Kusnoor village in Gulbarga region, Karnataka. The nasal swabs were enriched in nutrient broth for enrichment of S. aureus then streaked on Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 hours. Conventional methods such as growth characteristics on mannitol salt agar, Gram’s staining, and biochemical characteristics have been performed for characterization of the S. aureus. Antibiotic sensitivity test was carried out for the isolated S. aureus using different antibiotics. Results: A total of 224 nasal swabs were screened and the incidence of S. aureus was observed to be 41.96% (94/224). Of the total 94 S. aureus isolates, 1 (1.06%) isolate was found to be MRSA and 93(98.93%) isolates were MSSA. A total of 3 (3.22%) S. aureus isolates were found to be multi-drug resistant (MDR) in this study.  Conclusion: Our results suggest that general populations are at risk and are potential carriers of S. aureus and in particular MRSA. 

Keywords: Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), anterior nares, S. aureus, communityacquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) 

 Cite this Article Sagar M. Arali, Vivek Kulkarni, Subhashchandra M. Gaddad et al. Incidence of Community acquired MRSA in the nasal swabs of general population of Gulbarga region. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Microbiology and Virology. 2017; 7(3):     8–13p.