Nasal carriage of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Pregnant Women in Khartoum state

Abstract

Back ground: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aurues (MRSA) responsible for different Infections. Staphylococcus aurues resides mainly in nose of healthy human also can colonize in other sites of the body. Asymptomatic colonization of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aurues in pregnant women can cause problem to mothers and their infants. Objective: To determine nasal carriage of MRSA among pregnant women in Khartoum state and the antibiotic susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus isolates. Method: A total of 100 nasal swabs were collected from pregnant women, by a sterile cotton swab moistened with sterile normal saline. Then they were cultured on Manitol salt agar and incubated at 370C for 24hrs, S. aureus was identified by colonial morphology, Gram stain, catalase test, manitol fermentation and coagulase test. Detection of MRSA and antibiotic susceptibility test were done by The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion technique. Result: From 100 samples screened among pregnant women 18 (18%) were S.aureus, 3 (16.7%) of them were Methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) and 15 (83.3%) were Methicillin sensitive S.aureus (MSSA). The susceptibility test of S.aureus isolates showed sensitivity to all antibiotic used in this study (100% for Vancomycin 94.4% for Gentamycin, Clindamycin, Rifampin and 83.3% for Erythromycin). 2 of MRSA isolates were susceptible to five antibiotics (Gentamycin –Erythromycin – Vancomycin –Rifampin – Clindamycin) and 1 of MRSA isolates was resistant to 4 antibiotics and showed sensitivity only to Vancomycin. Conclusion: this study revealed that rate of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus among pregnant women in Military and Obstetrics hospital in Khartoum state moderately low (3%) and there were no effective resistances appear among S.aureus isolates in antibiotic susceptibility pattern used. Keywords: Nasal carriage, Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pregnant women.