Prevalence and patterns of nasal colonization in staphylococcus aureus and methicilin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) infected infants and children / Nessma Mohmed Abdelbadea ; Supervised Nermeen Moftah Galal , Dina Moheb Ibrahim , Noha Salah Eldein Elsayed

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Background: Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) is a common pathogen responsible for community as well as hospital-associated infections. Infections caused by S. aureus have a wide clinical range from minor skin infections to severe life threatening infections. Nasal carriage of S.aureus acts not only as an endogenous reservoir for clinical infections in the colonized individual but also as a source of cross-colonization for community spread. Prolonged hospital stay, chronic illness, over use of antibiotics and recent surgery are the most common risk factors for S. aureus infection. Decolonization strategies are considered helpful in eliminating infection and reduce recurrence rate. Method: This cohort study included 60 patients with positive results for staphylococcal infections along with 30 patients as control group. All cases were tested for nasal carriage of S. aureus or MRSA by taking nasal swabs. According to the results, cases that were found to have nasal carriage underwent decolonization with mupirocin to eradicate nasal carriage. Results: Ten cases out of a total of the 60 cases were colonized (17% of the cases), six cases had S.aureus nasal colonization and four cases had MRSA. The most common risk factor was chronic illness in 50% of the cases namely End Stage Kidney Disease, cerebral palsy, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Juvenile Dermatomyositis. The most common retrieved isolates were from skin isolates followed by blood cultures and CVL cultures

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