Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage between healthy students of medical and nonmedical universities

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a challenge for public health, and
community-acquired (CA) infections seem to be increasing among people in different areas.
Methods: A total of 700 healthy student volunteers residing in dormitories of universities in Urmia, Iran,
were enrolled in this study. After identification of the isolates, antibiotic susceptibility, presence of mecA
and pvl genes, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing were evaluated.
Results: Nasal screening identified 137 (19.6%) carriers of S aureus, and 18 (13.14%) were MRSA isolates.
The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolates revealed high resistance to penicillin (93.4%).
All isolates were sensitive to vancomycin. The SCCmec typing showed that most MRSA strains belonged
to SCCmec type IV (n = 14; 77.8%). Only 1 (5.56%) MRSA isolates carried the pvl gene.
Conclusions: Our findings revealed the relatively high frequency of S aureus nasal carriers and the advent
of multidrug resistance among these isolates. Most MRSA isolates were SCCmec type IV; the transfer of
such MRSA strains from carriers to other individuals in crowded living conditions such as dormitories
can act as a risk factor for outbreak of CA MRSA and is a serious threat for the study groups.
© 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier