Investigating the rate of the staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in Vietnamese community

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus has long been recognized as an important human pathogen causing many severe diseases. It is also a part of human normal flora with its ecological niches in the human anterior nares. This study focused on screening S. aureus nasal carriage rate in community and its relationship to human physiological and pathological factors which have not been studied in Vietnam previously. Results of screening 205 participants in Ho Chi Minh City age from 18 to 35 and over 59 years old both male and female showed that nasal carriage of the older age group (> 59 years old) was higher than that of younger age (18-35 years old). In addition, the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage in Vietnamese community was relatively low, only 11.7% (24/205), much lower than that in other international reports on human S. aureus nasal carriage. Our data also presented that there was not any significant effect of the risk factors to the nasal carriage rate. Besides, the carriage rate of S. aureus seemed to be higher in individuals with normal BMI (body mass index) range. These findings elucidated a matter on S. aureus nasal colonization in Vietnamese community, concurrently helped the researchers to get an overview on S. aureus nasal carriage in Vietnam. This would serve as valuable information on assessing the possibility of hospital- and community-acquired S. aureus infections.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, nasal carriage, risk factors, community