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    <front>
        <journal-meta>
            <journal-id journal-id-type="issn">0973-7510</journal-id>
            <journal-title-group>
                <journal-title>Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology</journal-title>
            </journal-title-group>
            <issn pub-type="epub">2581-690X</issn>
            <publisher>
                <publisher-name>DR. M.N. Khan</publisher-name>
            </publisher>
        </journal-meta>
        <article-meta>
            <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.22207/JPAM.20.4.11</article-id>
            <title-group>
                <article-title>Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Detection of the mecA Gene in Staphylococcus spp. Isolated from the Hands of Healthcare Workers in Maternal and Pediatric Hospital Settings</article-title>
            </title-group>
 
			<contrib-group>

				<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>de Souza</surname>
                    <given-names>Sandra Geane Pereira</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

				<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Dalmagro</surname>
                    <given-names>Mariana</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>dos Santos</surname>
                    <given-names>Isabela Carvalho</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Rey</surname>
                    <given-names>Laisa Marina Rosa</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>dos Santos</surname>
                    <given-names>Mariana Carvalho</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-2"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Bonato</surname>
                    <given-names>Francieli Gesleine Capote</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Domingues</surname>
                    <given-names>Caroline</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Gonçalves</surname>
                    <given-names>Daniela Dib</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			<contrib contrib-type="author">
                <name>
                    <surname>Barbosa</surname>
                    <given-names>Lidiane Nunes</given-names>
                </name>
                <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/>
            </contrib>

			</contrib-group>


			<aff id="aff-1">Universidade Paranaense – UNIPAR, Umuarama, Parana, Brazil.</aff>
			<aff id="aff-2">Universidade Cesumar – UniCesumar, Maringa, Parana, Brazil.</aff>
				


            <pub-date publication-format="electronic" date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2026-10-28">
                <day>28</day>
				<month>10</month>
                <year>2026</year>
            </pub-date>
            <volume></volume>
            <issue></issue>
            <fpage></fpage>
            <lpage></lpage>
            <permissions>
                <copyright-statement>Copyright &#x00A9; 2026 The Author(s)</copyright-statement>
                <copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
                <license license-type="open-access"
                    xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
                    <license-p>This is an open access article 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.<uri
					xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
                            >https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</uri></license-p>
                </license>
            </permissions>
            <self-uri xlink:href="https://microbiologyjournal.org/antimicrobial-susceptibility-and-detection-of-the-meca-gene-in-staphylococcus-spp-isolated-from-the-hands-of-healthcare-workers-in-maternal-and-pediatric-hospital-settings/"/>
            <abstract>
                <p>Healthcare workers’ hands may harbor Staphylococcus spp. with antimicrobial resistance determinants in hospital settings, including pediatric care units. To characterize the antimicrobial susceptibility profile and detect the mecA gene in Staphylococcus spp. isolated from the hands of healthcare workers in maternal and pediatric hospital settings. Hand swab samples were collected from 60 healthcare workers, yielding 24 Staphylococcus isolates. Phenotypic identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disk diffusion, and PCR detection of mecA were performed. Among the 24 isolates, 12 (50.0%) were coagulase-positive and 12 (50.0%) were coagulase-negative; no isolate was confirmed as Staphylococcus aureus. Resistance was highest to oxacillin (18/24; 75.0%), followed by clindamycin (15/24; 62.5%), gentamicin (14/24; 58.33%), sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (14/24; 58.33%), cefoxitin (14/24; 58.33%), and norfloxacin (13/24; 54.17%). Cefotaxime resistance was 50.0% and tetracycline resistance was 25.0%. The mecA gene was detected in 16 isolates (66.67%). Staphylococcus spp. recovered from healthcare workers’ hands showed substantial antimicrobial resistance, with mecA detected in two-thirds of isolates. These findings support continued surveillance and infection prevention measures in maternal and pediatric hospital settings.</p></abstract>
		<kwd-group>
        <title>Keywords</title>
        <kwd>Antimicrobial Resistance</kwd>
        <kwd>Methicillin Resistance</kwd>
        <kwd>Bacterial Carriage</kwd>
        <kwd>Infection Prevention and Control</kwd>
        <kwd>Maternal and Pediatric Care</kwd>
		</kwd-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
</article>