Abstract
Background: The prevalence of nosocomial meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was previously estimated as 23% in a paediatric hospital in Luanda, Angola and 18% in a general hospital in São Tomé and Príncipe. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of S. aureus/MRSA colonization among hospitalized children and their parents at two hospitals in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe. Methods: In 2017, 127 hospitalized children and 129 of their parents had nasal swabs for S. aureus/MRSA carriage in the two countries. The isolates were tested for the presence of the mecA and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes, and characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), spa typing, multi-locus sequence typing and SCCmec typing. Findings: Twenty of 127 children (15.7%) and 13 of 129 parents (10.1%) were MRSA nasal carriers. Three lineages comprised 88% of the MRSA isolates: (i) PFGE A-ST5-SCCmec IVa (N=15; 45%), associated with spa type t105, recovered in Angola alone; (ii) PFGE N-ST8-IV/V (N=7; 21%), associated with spa types t008/t121, recovered in São Tomé and Príncipe alone; and (iii) PFGE B-ST88-IVa (N=7; 21%), associated with spa types t325/t786, present in both countries. Fifteen child/guardian pairs were colonized with identical MRSA (N=8) or meticillin-susceptible S. aureus (N=7) strains. PVL was detected in 25% of isolates, including two MRSA (ST30-V and ST8-IVa). Conclusion: Hospitalized children and their parents are important reservoirs of MRSA. Infection control measures should focus on parents in order to minimize the spread of MRSA to the community.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 344-349 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Hospital Infection |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2018 |
Keywords
- Africa
- Angola
- Children
- MRSA
- Nasal carriage
- Parents
- São Tomé and Príncipe