Nasal and pharyngeal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus sciuri among hospitalised patients and healthcare workers in a Serbian university hospital

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 12; no. 9; p. e0185181
• Main Authors: Cirkovic, Ivana, Trajkovic, Jasmina, Hauschild, Tomasz, Andersen, Paal Skytt, Shittu, Adebayo, Larsen, Anders Rhod
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01-09-2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acid resistance; Adult; Agar; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibiotics; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Biology and Life Sciences; Carrier State - microbiology; Chromosomes; Cultivation; Culture media; Epidemiology; Fusidic acid; Genes; Health care; Health Personnel; Hospitals; Hospitals, University; Humans; Immunology; Inoculation; Mannitol; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methicillin; Methicillin Resistance - drug effects; Methicillin Resistance - genetics; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; Multidrug resistance; Mutation; Nasal Cavity - microbiology; Oxacillin; Oxacillin - pharmacology; Patients; Penicillin; People and Places; Pharynx; Pharynx - microbiology; Research and Analysis Methods; Salts; Screening; Serbia; Sodium chloride; Staphylococcal Infections - diagnosis; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus - drug effects; Staphylococcus - genetics; Staphylococcus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus infections; Typing; Workers; Young Adult; Serbia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185181

There has been a paucity of data on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus sciuri (MRSS) epidemiology in European healthcare settings. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of nasal and pharyngeal carriage and diversity of MRSS among inpatients and healthcare workers (HCWs) in the largest healthcare centre in Serbia, and to assess performance of different methods for MRSS screening. Nasal and pharyngeal swabs were obtained from 195 patients and 105 HCWs in different departments. Each swab was inoculated directly onto MRSA-ID, oxacillin-resistance screening agar and mannitol salt agar (MSA) with 2 mg/L of oxacillin. After inoculation, each swab was dipped in Mueller-Hinton broth with 6.5% NaCl and after overnight incubation, subcultured onto oxacillin-MSA. Characterisation of isolated MRSS strains was determined by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, PFGE, SCCmec typing and antimicrobial resistance genes detection. MRSS nasal and pharyngeal carriage rate was high (5%) in our hospital and department-variable. PFGE revealed a possible cross-transmission of MRSS between a patient and an HCW, and dissemination across hospital wards. All analysed isolates were multidrug resistant. Fusidic acid resistance was discovered in 93.7% of isolates, but fusA mutations in EF-G and fusB/C genes were not detected. SCCmec regions of MRSS contained elements of classic methicillin-resistant S. aureus type III. Broth enrichment prior to isolation on oxacillin-MSA was superior to direct cultivation on different media with a sensitivity/specificity of 100% and 88.5%, respectively. MRSS is a significant coloniser of patients and HCWs in the hospital. Further research is needed to investigate the clinical significance of the bacterium in our settings.