Abstract:
Background: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal carriage is a potential
niche for spread and a risk factor for subsequent infections. However, there is limited data on
nasal carriage rate of S. aureus and MRSA among clinical year medical students in Africa and
none in Ethiopia.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of nasal carriage rate of methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus and contributing factors for colonization of MRSA among clinical year
medical students of Jimma University, southwest Ethiopia.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 371 clinical year medical students,
(clinical-I, n=166 clinical-II, n=125 and medical-intern n=80) who had been on clinical practices
at Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH) from May to August, 2016. Nasal swab was
taken from all eligible subjects with sterile cotton swabs. Samples were processed for
identification of S. aureusand MRSA.Antimicrobial susceptibility was done according to
standard operating procedures and data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: A total of 82 S. aureusisolates were recovered from 371 samples. The overall
prevalence ofS. aureusand MRSA among the study population was 22.1% and 8.4%
respectively. Length of hospital practice and MRSA colonization showed statistically significant
association.Penicillin and ampicillin showed 100% resistance to MSSA isolates while
clindamycin sensitivity was high to all isolates. In addition 52.9% MSSA and 48.4% of MRSA
isolates wereshowed multidrug resistance.
Conclusion: This study shows that the carriage rates of S. aureus and MRSA among medical
interns was high. We conclude that clinical exposure may increase colonization by
MRSA.According to this study clindamycin is effective treatment against MSSAand
MRSA.Alcohol-based hand rub antiseptics should be placed strategically in the hospitals.
