ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Hashim Bin Salleeh1, Sulamain Ali Alharbi2 , Tahani Alahmadi1, Ibrahim Bin Salleeh2, Milton Wainwright2,3, Mohammad A. Khiyami4 and Hesham Khalil5
1Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, P.O. Box (56) 2925, Riyadh, 11461, Saudi Arabia.
2Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
3Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, UK.
4King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, P.O. Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia.
5Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2013;7(Spl. Edn.: November):479-482
© The Author(s). 2013
Received: 11/08/2013 | Accepted: 16/10/2013 | Published: 30/11/2013
Abstract

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be transmitted during pediatric emergency treatment and, occasionally, could result in contamination and infection of both patients and staff. Nasal swabs were taken from a sample of 14 physicians and 22 registered nurses working in a pediatric emergency unit at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, KSA. All participants filled in a short survey related to the study. All swabs were spread onto Staphylococcus aureus, CHROMagarat and incubated at 37o C for 48 hours. In order to isolate this bacterium form the air plates containing the same medium was also exposed to different areas of the clinical environment in the same pediatric emergency unit (for 72 hours). Thirty six health care professionals participated in the study comprising 14 physicians and 22 registered nurses. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonies were isolated from 71% of physicians and 68% of registered nurses, while no isolates were obtained from the opened plates exposed to the air of the clinical environment.  The colonization rate in both physicians and nurses group was not related to hand washing before and after patients encounter, the number of working years in pediatric emergency, or the number of monthly shifts. The colonization rate for MRSA is high among pediatric emergency staff included in this pilot. Further studies are required to study factors leading to this high rate and the effect of this high rate on patient’s safety.

Keywords

MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus, pediatric emergency, cross-contamination

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© The Author(s) 2013. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.