High MRSA Carriage Rate among Nursing Microbiology Students

Alan Lee Gillen; Whitney O. Daycock; Andrew Serafin

doi:10.4236/aim.2014.413096

Home > Journals > Biomedical & Life Sciences > AiM

AiM> Vol.4 No.13, October 2014

Share This Article:

High MRSA Carriage Rate among Nursing Microbiology Students ()

Abstract Full-Text HTML

Download as PDF (Size:2620KB) PP. 871-877

DOI: 10.4236/aim.2014.413096 3,974 Downloads 5,587 Views Citations

Author(s) Leave a comment

Alan Lee Gillen^*, Whitney O. Daycock, Andrew Serafin

Affiliation(s)

Department of Biology & Chemistry, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, USA.

ABSTRACT

Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of disease, particularly in colonized persons. Although methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections have become increasingly reported, population- based studies of students preparing for the health professions having S. aureus and MRSA colonization are lacking. We have found that students in microbiology classes having more contact with individuals in a healthcare setting are more likely to carry MRSA in their nares and axilla. The classes who had the highest rate of MRSA carriage during the school year, 2013-2014, were those with nursing students, who had a greater exposure to clinical settings and nursing homes. The class which had the highest rate of S. aureus carriage, had nearly 50% of the infected students had been involved a clinical setting. Since the majority of the students in the nursing and biology courses are looking to pursue a career in medicine, this sampling was very beneficial to inform them and others if they were a carrier of S. aureus and MRSA and the preventative measures to reduce the risk of infection.

KEYWORDS

Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, Staphylococcus Carriage, Clinical Student Risks

Cite this paper

Gillen, A. , Daycock, W. and Serafin, A. (2014) High MRSA Carriage Rate among Nursing Microbiology Students. Advances in Microbiology, 4, 871-877. doi: 10.4236/aim.2014.413096.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) FY15 Detect and Protect against Antibiotic Resistance Budget Initiative. http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/pdf/FY15-DPAR-budget-init.pdf

[2]	Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2007) CDC Estimates 94,000 Invasive Drug-Resistant Staph Infections Occurred in the U.S. in 2005. http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2007/r071016.htm

[3]	CDC (2014) Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Infections. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/

[4]	Kildow B, Conradie J, Robson R. (2012) Nostrils of Healthy Volunteers Are Independent with Regard to Staphylococcus aureus Carriage. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 50, 3744-3746. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01488-12

[5]	Votintseva, A.A., Miller, R.R., Fung, R., Knox, K., Godwin, H., Peto, T.E.A., et al. (2014) Multiple-Strain Colonization in Nasal Carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 52, 1192-1200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.03254-13

[6]	Wertheim, H., Melles, D., Vos, M., Van Leeuwen, W., Van, B., Verbrugh, H., et al. (2005) The Role of Nasal Carriage in Staphylococcus aureus Infections. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 5, 751-762. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(05)70295-4

[7]	Berthelot, P., Grattard, F., Fascia, P., et al. (2004) Is Nasal Carriage of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus More Prevalent among Student Healthcare Workers? Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 25, 364-365. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/503498

[8]	Courvalin, P., LeClercq, R. and Rice, L.B. (Eds.) (2011) Antibiogram. ASM Press, Washington DC.

[9]	Yan, M., Pamp, S., Fukuyama, J., Hwang, P., Cho, D., Holmes, S., et al. (2013) Nasal Microenvironments and Interspecific Interactions Influence Nasal Microbiota Complexity and S. aureus Carriage. Cell Host & Microbe, 14, 631-640. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2013.11.005

[10]	Highlander, S., Hultén, K., Quin, X., Jiang, H., Yerrapragada, S., Mason, E., et al. (2007) Subtle Genetic Changes Enhance Virulence of Methicillin-Resistant and Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. BMC Microbiology, 7, 1-14. http://www.biomedcentral/1471-2180/7/99.

[11]	Hudson, L., Reynolds, C., Spratt, B., Enright, M., Quan, V., Kim, D., et al. (2013) Diversity of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from Residents of 26 Nursing Homes in Orange County, California. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 51, 3788-3795. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01708-13

[12]	Lee, B., Bartsch, S., Wong, K., Singh, A., Avery, T., Kim, D., et al. (2013) The Importance of Nursing Homes in the Spread of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) among Hospitals. Medical Care, 5, 205-215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e3182836dc2