Does chronic hepatitis B increase Staphylococcus nasal carriage?
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.


METHODS
The prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage was determined in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and compared with the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage among control patients.


RESULTS
Between February 2003 and November 2004, 70 chronic hepatitis B patients and 70 control patients were enrolled in the study. S. aureus nasal carriage was shown in 15 (12%) of the patients with chronic hepatitis B and 13 (19%) of the control group (P > 0.05). There was no difference in nasal colonization between the cases and controls when analysed by age, sex, frequency of skin infection, prior use of antibiotics and hospital admission in the preceding six months.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of our study show that chronic hepatitis B virus infection is not associated with S. aureus nasal carriage.
Karbay
Oguz
O
Izzet Baysal University, Izzet Baysal Medical Faculty, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Department, Bolu, Turkey
Tamer
Ali
A
Sahin
Idris
I
Celebi
Harika
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*