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Updated: May 18, 2026

Improved Enzyme Protection Assay to Study Staphylococcus aureus Internalization and Intracellular Efficacy of Antimicrobial Compounds
Published on: September 8, 2021
Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage during the infectious diseases national congress in France
D Boisseau1, S Alfandari, R Gauzit
1SPILF, France. dorotheeboisseau@yahoo.fr
Objective:
Screening for (methicillin-sensitive [MSSA] or -resistant [MRSA]) Staphylococcus aureus (SA) nasal carriage in health care workers in contact with fragile patients is a recurrent question. We wanted to assess carriage among infectious diseases healthcare workers.
Methods:
Voluntary health care workers were recruited during the 2010 Yearly French Congress (Journées Nationales d'Infectiologie, JNI). An anonymous double nasal swab was performed followed by PCR examination (GeneXpert MRSA/SA nasal tests) carried out on the Cepheid stand. Health care workers were also asked to fill in a questionnaire. Results were available 1 hour later but kept anonymous.
Results:
One hundred and fifty-two tests and questionnaires were selected. MRSA was isolated from four health care workers (2.4%). MSSA was isolated from 52 health care workers (34.2%). Sex, clinical activity of health care workers, hospital size, and systematic screening of patients did not affect carriage.
Conclusions:
The prevalence of MSSA in nasal carriage in France is similar to the European one but the prevalence of MRSA is higher. This raises the question of a targeted decolonization in health care workers.
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