Abstract: Detection of carriers among healthcare workers is an important component of strategies for controlling the spread of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a hospital setting. We conducted a cross sectional study on clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers at Lagos University Hospital, Nigeria. A total of 250 healthcare workers from medical and surgical units, hospital attendants (ward maids), laboratory and laundry departments were randomly sampled and screened for MRSA using nasal swabs. The overall carriage rate of MRSA was 13.6% and the prevalence was seen higher among the clinical healthcare workers than the non-clinical staff (10% vs. 3.6%; P<0.0001). Poor adherence to infection control practices, antibiotic use within the past three months, contact with patients with cutaneous lesions were among factors associated with MRSA in this study. Other risk factors observed included the Length of service of workers as well as use of protective clothing. However, the prevalence of MRSA carriage among healthcare workers is still low in this endemic setting compared to others in same Sub-Saharan African region or developed countries hence screening is however highly useful to identify the imported cases and also to allow prompt isolation precautions.
Keywords: carrier, infection control, prevalence, risk factors, Staphylococcus aureus
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