Prevalence of Nasal carriage of coagulase negative staphylococci and its antimicrobial susceptibility among ICU health care workers at a tertiary care hospital of Barabanki, UP

Introduction: Health care workers (HCW) including medical as well as paramedical workers are a potential source of carrier of infection for the patients admitted in different intensive care units (ICU). The anterior nares are the main reservoir of Staphylococcus although other body sites are frequently colonised with it, such as hands, skin, axillae, and intestinal tract. The body parts of health care workers as well as the equipments and accessories used by them are likely to transmit infections. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the infections in different ICUs. A total of 288 parallel nasal and hands swabs were collected. These samples were cultured as per standard protocols and antibiotic sentivity was also carried out. For antibiotic sensitivity Kirby disc diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar plate was used. Coagulase negative Staphylococcus was the bacteria isolated and subjected to sensitivity towards different antibiotics. Results: Of the 288 samples 90 samples (31.3%) were positive while 198 (68.7%) were negative. The distribution of the positive samples from Medical ICUs – 47 cases, Paediatric ICUs – 21 and, Surgical ICUs – 22 cases. Conclusion: Coagulase negative Staphylococci were predominantly isolated from culture and increasing antibiotic resistance is also observed. The most effective antibiotics were Tobramycin, Teicoplanin and Linezolid while Penicillin, Gentamycin and Erythromycin showed highest resistance. HCW themselves as well as the accessories used by them are an important potential source of infection for the admitted patients. Regular disinfection of these accessories should be strictly followed in each and every ICU.