Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in healthy preschool children

To evaluate the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus carriage among healthy preschool children in our region, nasal swabs were collected from 5- to 7-year-old healthy children who were attending a day care center. Sociodemographic features and the data related with risk factors were obtained from the children's parents. Of the 200 children, S. aureus was isolated in 36 (18%) subjects. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus was isolated in 2 (5.6%) of these subjects, neither of whom had any identified risk factors. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that all tested strains were sensitive to gentamicin, vancomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, rifampicin, and mupirocin. Erythromycin, clindamycin, fusidic acid, and tetracycline resistance were determined to be 16.6, 8.3, 5.6, and 8.3%, respectively.