Nasal carriage of methicillin resistant Staphylococci in healthy population of East Sikkim

Abstract

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains were initially described in 1961 and emerged in the last decade as one of the most important nosocomial pathogens. MRSA is a strain of S. aureus that has developed resistance to methicillin and other beta β- lactamase-resistant penicillins and cephalosporins.(1) MRSA infections have recently been identified in the community, which raised a question of whether these infections were transmitted from hospital, or they were caused by different resistant strains. The sharp increase in the prevalence of MRSA acquired infections in many communities had led to the consideration of outpatients as a source of infection in an institution.(2) Epidemiology of MRSA in the community is little understood or not studied at length. A few reports on MRSA in the healthy population of Nigeria, USA, Canada, Pakistan and Japan are available in the world literature. Till the beginning of study no report on the prevalence of MRSA in the community in India was available. Case reports of community acquired MRSA infections had been increasing since last 3 years in the tertiary care level hospitals in Gangtok of East Sikkim. Hence, a study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of MRSA among healthy subjects in the community in Gangtok of East Sikkim in India.