• Sameena Parveen

• Sheeba Saqib

• Altaf Ahmed

• Aqeel Shahzad

• Nawal Zarish

• Naveed Ahmed

Abstract

Background: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the nasal cavity and to determine the effectiveness of decolonization regimen among health care workers working in the Intensive care unit (ICU) at a Tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the period of June, 2018 to August, 2018. A total of 46 healthcare workers were screened to see the prevalence of MRSA in the nasal cavity. Samples from the nasal cavity were collected using sterile swabs, and processed for bacterial cultures. The samples were inoculated on Blood agar and chocolate agar and then incubated at 37℃ for 24 hours. After the incubation period, petri plates were checked for the growth of S. aureus (MRSA). After identification of colonizers, five days decolonization regimen of nasal mupirocin ointment and Chlorhexidine based body wash was used and repeated cultures were done to check the effectiveness of this regimen. IBM SPSS version 25 was used to check the statistically significant relationship between prevalence of MRSA colonization with profession and gender. Results: Among the total 46 participants, 6 (13%) were found MRSA colonizers, 12 (26.08%) showed MethicillinSusceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and remaining 28 (60.8%) showed no growth of S. aureus. The prevalence of MRSA colonization was found highest in nurses i.e. 66.67%, 16.67% in doctor and 16.67% were in respiratory therapists. The success rate of treatment regimen was 83.33%. Conclusion: Results of the present study showed that the prevalence of MRSA was high in our setting but effectiveness of decolonization treatment regimen is similar to the worldwide success rate.

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