title: Detection of Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA on environmental surfaces in a jail setting.
abstract: We examined jail environmental surfaces to explore whether they might serve as reservoirs of viable methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We swabbed 132 surfaces, inoculated primary and secondary mannitol salts and oxacillin-resistant screening agar, and used API tests to identify S. aureus and E-tests to determine methicillin/oxacillin resistance. We recovered S. aureus from 10 (7.6%) surfaces; eight (6.1%) isolates were MRSA. We ran pulsed-field gel electrophoresis on six resistant isolates and observed three patterns, one of which was identical to that identified in a previous study of inmates' nasal specimens. Finding MRSA-contaminated surfaces on a variety of environmental surfaces in the absence of an overt outbreak emphasizes that correctional facilities should have protocols for environmental cleaning as a component of MRSA prevention.
authors.affiliation: Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas, USA. marilyn.felkner@dshs.state.tx.us
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Felkner
authors.forename: Kiersten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.forename: Leanne H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: Jeffery P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Valle-Rivera
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Presley
authors.forename: Sky
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Newsome
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casey
mesh_terms: D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011330:Prisons; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*