Tehran University Medical Journal

Staphyloccus aureus is one of the most important causes of nosocomial infections. In order to investigate the S. sureus colonization rate, 378 samples were taken from the nose and. throat of staffs of 4 university hospitals in Kerman.
The control group consists of the same number of people with similar age and sex distribution. Seventy three hospitalized paients were also tested in this respect. The prevalence of nasal colonization of S. aureus was 33% in the control group, 36.8% in the staffs and 38.4% in the patients (the differences were not statistically significant). Throat colonization were seen in 12.4%, 25% and 22%, in the control group, staff and patients, respectively.
In the staff and control groups, the rate of throat colonization was lower than the nasal colonization (P<0.0001). Also the throat carriage rate in the patients and staffs was higher than that of the control group (P=0.002).
No statistically significant difference was obsered between the distribution of age and the carriage rate of S. aureus.
In males 42% and in females 30.5% were nasal carrier of S. aureus, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0005).
The rate of S. aureus colonization in the nose and throat (at the same time) in the males was twice the rate of colonization in females (P=0.00025).
No statistically significant difference was observed with respect to working department, or the type of work performed by staff and S. aureus carriage rate.
Higher rate of throat colonization in the patients and the staff of the hospitals over that of the control group, indicates the need for more preventive and control measurements with respect to nosocomial infection of the S. aureus