Prevalence of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible s. aureus in the saliva of health professionals

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: S. aureus is one of the main agents of nosocomial infection and is sometimes difficult to treat with currently available active antimicrobials. PURPOSE: To analyze the prevalence of methicillin-susceptible S.aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) as well as the MRSA antimicrobial susceptibility profile isolated in the saliva of health professionals at a large public education hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The project was approved by the research and ethics committee of the institution under study. Three samples of saliva from 340 health professionals were collected. The saliva analysis used to identify S. aureus was based on mannitol fermentation tests, catalase production, coagulase, DNAse, and lecithinase. In order to detect MRSA, samples were submitted to the disk diffusion test and the oxacillin agar screening test . In order to identify the minimum inhibitory concentration, the Etest® technique was used. RESULTS: The prevalence of MSSA was 43.5 percent (148/340), and MRSA was 4.1 percent (14/340). MRSA detected by the diffusion disk test, was 100 percent resistant to penicillin and oxacillin, 92.9 percent resistant to erythromycin, 57.1 percent resistant to clindamycin, 42.9 percent resistant to ciprofloxacin and 57.1 percent resistant to cefoxetin. CONCLUSION: This subject is important for both the education of health professionals and for preventative measures. Standard and contact-precautions should be employed in professional practice.