IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF MUPIROCIN ON STAPHYLOCOCCAL NASAL CARRIERS AMONG HEALTH CARE PERSONNEL IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, JAIPUR, INDIA.

Abstract

Introduction: Mupirocin (pseudomonic acid A) is an antibacterial agent with topical usage and wonderful antistaphylococcal and antistreptococcal characteristics. The formulation for nasal usage has been permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to eradicate nasal infections in adults. Healthcare workers possessing S. aureus as healthy carriers can be major origin of infection for the admitted patients. The anterior nares have proved to be the major reservoir for strains of S. aureus in both adult and children masses. To determine the Objective: prevalence of mupirocin susceptibility in S. aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and MRSA species by disk diffusion. A total of 100 nasal swabs were collected from health care personnel, aseptically during Materials And Methods: the study period. All the swab samples were processed immediately and isolated by standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Carriage rat Results: e of staphylococci was found to be 51% (including 44% of S. aureus and 7% CoNS), out of 100 nasal swabs collected during the study period. Prevalence rate of MRSA is detected to be 60.7% (31/44) in the health care workers. A total of 13 MSSA were detected in the sample collected from the anterior nares and 5 cases of MRCoNS also observed. The present study shows that all the identied S. aureus isolates were susceptible to low level mupirocin (5µg) as well as high level mupirocin (200µg). Nasal carri Conclusions: age of S. aureus is a major threat for public health as they can disseminate the same to the patients as well as to their colleagues. To reduce the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance, emphasis should be given to aseptic precaution, protective measures and topical application of mupirocin for eradication of nasal carriage.