Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus prevalence in community in the east Delhi area

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to be an important nosocomial pathogen. Various hospital-based studies have described the incidence of MRSA and carriage of this organism in health care workers. Recently, even community acquired S. aureus strains have shown resistance to methicillin. This changing epidemiology prompted us to study the nasal carriage of MRSA amongst healthy individuals in a community. A total of 319 nasal swabs were taken from both anterior nares of healthy parents attending a well-baby clinic. Of these, 94 yielded growth of S. aureus (29.4%). Out of these 94 isolates, 17 (18.1%) were found resistant to oxacillin. These strains showed low level resistance only to clindamycin.