title: The prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus among out-of-hospital care providers and emergency medical technician students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We compared the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carrier rate among out-of-hospital care providers with greater than six months' experience in emergency medical services (EMS) care with that of emergency medical technician (EMT) students with two months or less of observation time as part of their clinical training.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prospective study utilizing a convenience sample of out-of-hospital care providers and EMT students in an urban EMS system operating in the Midwest during October and November 2006. One hundred thirty-four out-of-hospital care providers and 152 EMT students were tested for MRSA susceptibility using the cefoxitin disk diffusion method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find a statistically significant difference in MRSA nasal colonization between out-of-hospital care providers (4.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0, 8.0) and EMT students (5.3%; 95% CI 1.7, 8.8). A subgroup analysis showed that among out-of-hospital care providers, paramedics had a higher rate of nasal colonization than EMTs (5.6% vs. 2.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that out-of-hospital care providers and EMT students had higher nasal colonization rates than the reported rate for the U.S. population (0.084% at the time the study was conducted and 1.5% currently). It is imperative that both groups adhere to infection control practices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. cmiramon@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miramonti
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rinkle
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iden
authors.forename: Jutieh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lincoln
authors.forename: Gretchen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huffman
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riddell
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kozak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015146:Midwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000078329:Workforce