Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among hospital personnel in a Nigerian hospital environment.

Among the 395 hospital staff examined during this study, 35.2pc of them were found to carry S. aureus in their anterior nares. The carriage was slightly higher in females (35.8pc) compared with 34.4pc in males, although it was not statistically significant. When the different age groups and professions were considered, the carriage was highest among the age group of 21-30 years and with the Nursing staff, who incidentally, are closest to the patients and had the highest number among the staff members examined. The carrier rate was also significantly higher (P less than 0.05) among staff members who had worked in the hospital for 7-10 months compared with other staff. There was a good correlation (97pc) between coagulase positivity and mannitol fermentation, while Methicillin, Claforan and Gentamycin were found to be very effective against most of the isolates. On re-examination of those staff members who ar closely associated with the patients two years after the initial exercise in 1987, it was evident that a significant number (P less than 0.05) of those carriers of Staph aureus in our hospital are not persistent ones.