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Low prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage in women from former Yugoslavia living in Switzerland
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Marschall, Jochen Dürig, P. Mühlemann, Kathrin |
| Copyright Year | 2006 |
| Abstract | Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage may be more frequent in individuals originating from countries known to have a high MRSA prevalence. In the study presented here, the prevalence of MRSA carriers among healthy pregnant women from former Yugoslavia living in Switzerland was evaluated by surveillance of screening cultures. Among 152 women screened, no MRSA carrier was detected (95% confidence interval for carriage prevalence, 0–1.9%). Currently, specific infection control measures such as routine screening for MRSA at hospital admission do not seem necessary in this patient population. In recent years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains have been recognized in outpatients and are now known as community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA). These strains differ from hospital-acquired (HA-MRSA) strains. CA-MRSA strains are being reported from an increasing number of countries, including those with a low prevalence of HA-MRSA. At the University Hospital Bern, the prevalence of HA-MRSA is below 5%, and routine screening for MRSA carriage is restricted to inpatients and patients referred from a foreign hospital. However, in recent months several cases of vaginal MRSA carriage have been detected by chance in women giving birth (unpublished observation). It is noteworthy that a high percentage of these women were originally from former Yugoslavia. In countries such as Croatia, the prevalence of HA-MRSA has been reported to be 22% [1], but no data have yet been published on the occurrence of CA-MRSA in that country. Between 12 January 2004 and 5 January 2005 we performed a screening study to evaluate MRSA carriage in pregnant women from former Yugoslavia at the obstetrical outpatient clinic of the University Hospital Bern, a tertiary care center with more than 1,000 births per year. The study was performed in accordance with the guidelines of the local ethical committee. During the study period, each woman was screened once for MRSA carriage at an antenatal check. Screening was performed by the treating physician in accordance with written in-house guidelines. Using twisted wire rayon-tipped applicators (Copan Venturi Transystem; Copan, Brescia, Italy) premoistened with physiological saline, nasal swabs were taken from both nares (same applicator) and vaginal swabs were taken from the introitus vaginae, including the perineal region. Microbiological screening and identification of MRSAwere performed using the mannitol/oxacillin biplate test, selective culture for grampositive organisms, and the coagulase tube test for exclusion of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp; antimicrobial resistance testing was performed using Müller–Hinton agar. Patients' data were collected from clinical charts and hospital statistics using a standardized questionnaire. The 95% confidence interval for MRSA prevalence was calculated based on a binomial distribution. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis (2006) 25:535–536 DOI 10.1007/s10096-006-0178-z |
| Starting Page | 535 |
| Ending Page | 536 |
| Page Count | 2 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10096-006-0178-z |
| PubMed reference number | 16847690 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 25 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://boris.unibe.ch/18817/1/10096_2006_Article_178.pdf |
| Journal | European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
