Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in children attending school in cartagena, colombia

Objective Determining nasal carriers of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and associated risk factors for nasal colonisation in a school-aged population in the seaside city of Cartagena, Colombia. Methods A cross-sectional, analytical study was carried out on 100 healthy schoolchildren to determine MRSA nasal carriage and its association with risk factors. Bacteria were identified using conventional methods. Antibiotic sensitivity was determined by the Kirby Bauer method. Results A total of 36 isolates of S. aureus were identified in the school children. 25 % of the strains were oxacillin-resistant, 66.7 % oxacillin-sensitive and 8.3 % had intermediate susceptibility. 67 % of the MRSA strains isolated were sensitive to all antibiotics tested. One strain (MRSA-Ant4) showed resistance to antibiotics having different mechanisms of action. Conclusions This is the first study in Cartagena which determined the frequency of S. aureus and MRSA strains nasal carriers in a school population (33 % and 9 %, respectively). All S. aureus oxacillin-resistant strains were cephoxitin-resistant, thereby leading to the presence of the mecA gene being suspected. Having used beta-lactam antibiotics during the last three months increased the likelihood of being an MRSA nasal carrier by around five times (OR=4.72; 0.96-23.98 95 %CL; p

• Autores: Castro-Orozco, Raimundo; Villafañe-Ferrer, Lucy M.; Álvarez-Rivera, Eduviges; Martínez De Arco, Melina; Rambaut-Donado, Carmen L.; Vitola-Heins, Gina V.
• Tipo de recurso: Article of journal
• Fecha de publicación: 2010
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Repositorio: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unal.edu.co:unal/35251
• Acceso en línea: https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/35251; http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/25331/
• Palabra clave: Staphylococcus aureus; resistencia a la meticilina; portador sano; farmacorresistencia microbiana; Staphylococcus aureus; methicillin resistance; carrier state; antimicrobial drug resistance; community-acquired infection
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional