[Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among personnel working in a teaching hospital]

We have studied prospectively the nasal carriage status of Staphylococcus aureus among all health-care workers in the Valdivia Hospital Base. A total of 522 nasal samples were evaluated. Nasal carriage rate was 34.9% for all personnel. Higher rates were seen in Pediatric wards and Central Kitchen Service. Isolated strains were resistant to penicillin (98.3%). However, sensitivity to other antimicrobial agents was high. According to the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, we identified 12 different groups of strains or antibiotypes. Three of the multiple resistant antibiotypes (resistant to 4 or 5 antimicrobial agents) were isolated from pediatric wards.