Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among Basra Medical students

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus strains are becoming a major causes of nosocomial and community acquired infections specially those strains associated with antibiotic resistance. Nasal colonization of S. aureus is seen in patients and healthy individuals .This study was done to screen the nasal carriage rate of S. aureus among medical students (1st , 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th year). The highest colonization rate (42.23%) of S.aureusrevealed in the 4th 5th and 6th year students . However the nasal carriage of S. aureus of 1st and 2nd year students was 18.6% (p˂0.001). In addition nasal carriage was shown to be higher in male than female students (p˂0.05).Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of S.aureus against 10 types of antibiotics had been reported.