Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a veterinary orthopaedic referral hospital: staff nasal colonisation and incidence of clinical cases.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate staff nasal colonisation with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a veterinary orthopaedic referral hospital, and its effect on the occurrence of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-associated postoperative wound complications in orthopaedic and spinal surgical patients.


METHODS
Nasal bacterial swabs were collected from veterinary staff and environmental surfaces swabbed at six monthly intervals for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus monitoring over an 18 month period. The incidence of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-associated postoperative wound complications of two veterinary orthopaedic surgeons was reviewed for a period when one was positive for nasal meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.


RESULTS
Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from a maximum of two out of 10 staff on each occasion. The persistently infected clinician was primary surgeon in 180 cases, of which four developed meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-associated wound complications. None of 141 operations led by the other surgeon developed meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-associated complications. This difference is not statistically significant (P=0.0974). The 95 per cent confidence interval for this odds ratio was 0.83 to 44.0. Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus resistance patterns of the human nasal isolates and three of four wound-associated isolates were similar.


CONCLUSIONS
Veterinary workers are at increased risk for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonisation, so it is likely that many veterinary patients are treated by meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-positive staff. Nasal colonisation of veterinary surgeons with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus appears to present only a small risk to their patients when appropriate infection control procedures are followed.
McLean
C L
CL
Croft Veterinary Hospital, 37/39 Croft Road, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 2EL, UK.
Ness
M G
MG
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002353:Carrier State; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission; D002415:Cats; D003428:Cross Infection; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006762:Hospitals, Animal; D006801:Humans; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient; D008297:Male; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary; D018634:Veterinarians; D015047:Zoonoses
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents