Background: To measure Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal colonization prevalence in\r\nhousehold contacts of children with current community associated (CA)-MRSA infections (study group) in\r\ncomparison with a group of household contacts of children without suspected Staphylococcus aureus infection (a\r\ncontrol group).\r\nMethods: This is a cross sectional study. Cultures of the anterior nares were taken. Relatedness of isolated strains\r\nwas tested using pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).\r\nResults: The prevalence of MRSA colonization in the study group was significantly higher than in the control\r\ngroup (18/77 (23%) vs 3/77 (3.9%); p = 0.001). The prevalence of SA colonization was 28/77 (36%) in the study\r\ngroup and 16/77 (21%) in the control group (p = 0.032). The prevalence of SA nasal colonization among patients\r\nwas 6/24 (25%); one with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and 5 with MRSA. In the study (patient) group,\r\n14/24 (58%) families had at least one household member who was colonized with MRSA compared to 2/29 (6.9%)\r\nin the control group (p = 0.001). Of 69 total isolates tested by PFGE, 40 (58%) were related to USA300. Panton-\r\nValetine leukocidin (PVL) genes were detected in 30/52 (58%) tested isolates. Among the families with =1 contact\r\ncolonized with MRSA, similar PFGE profiles were found between the index patient and a contact in 10/14 families.\r\nConclusions: Prevalence of asymptomatic nasal carriage of MRSA is higher among household contacts of patients\r\nwith CA-MRSA disease than control group. Decolonizing such carriers may help prevent recurrent CA-MRSA\r\ninfections.
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