[Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in the normal population and hospital laboratory personnel]

Hospital personnel may be nasal carriers of S.aureus in a higher percentage of cases than in the general population. The aim of the present study was to compare the rate of nasal carriage of S.aureus in general population and hospital laboratory personnel. 144 of patients sent to our Microbiology laboratory for other reasons (i.e., Urine Culture, serology, etc.) were taken as general population, and 38 person from Microbiology, Biochemistry, Hematology, Immunology and Pathology Laboratories of our hospital were included the study as hospital laboratory personnel. S.aureus nasal carriage rates were found 28% (41/144) in normal population, and 31.5% (12/38) in hospital laboratory personnel. These figures are between normal population range. Therefore the rate of nasal carriage of S.aureus in our hospital, reflects probably normal population carrier rate, not the hospital colonization.