Resumen

PEDRAZA B, Adriana M  y  RAMIREZ R, Román Y. Phenotypic determination of Staphylococcus aureus resitant to methicillin from workers belonging to three ICU of medical care centers in Tunja (Colombia). INHRR [online]. 2014, vol.45, n.1, pp.51-63. ISSN 0798-0477.

Carriers of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in healthcare workers of intensive care units (ICUs) belonging to three medical centers in Tunja (Colombia) were phenotypically determined. All subjects under study (84) we performed a nasal swab in order to isolate strains of MRSA. Samples were inoculated onto mannitol salt agar; mannitol-fermenting strains were identified by morphological evidence (Gram) and biochemical such as catalase, coagulase and DNase. To determine their resistance to methicillin was performed a susceptibility test using disk diffusion method with 30 μg cefoxitin disc, according to CLSI M02-A11 protocol. Staphylococcus aureus strains ATCC 43300 and ATCC resistance control and sensitivity control 33 862 were used. A survey was conducted in order to determine possible risk factors that might be associated with the presence of asymptomatic carriers of MRSA. Prevalence of MRSA was 1.2%, factors associated with nasal carriage are: to be a physician (p = 0.025) and the absence of handwashing after invasive procedures (p=0,003). Although asymptomatic nasal carriage of MRSA in this study was low, the finding of a single MRSA strain represents a potential hazard to users of the ICU, due to risk of transmission and possible generation of multi-resistant infections that worsen prognosis of users.

Palabras clave : Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Critical care; Staphylococcal infections; Carrier state; Personnel hospital.

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