title: Nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among pediatricians in Taiwan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health care workers (HCWs) are at the interface between hospitals and communities. The survey for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage among HCWs has mostly been conducted to investigate outbreaks or endemics. Community-associated MRSA are prevalent among children in Taiwan. We conducted this study to better understand the carriage rate of MRSA among pediatricians in non-outbreak situations in Taiwan,.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 220 pediatricians from Taiwan who attended the annual meeting of Taiwan Pediatric Association in April, 2010 were recruited to participate in this study and were sampled from the nares for the detection of MRSA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and further by culture. The following molecular analyses were performed, including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), typing of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) and the presence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MRSA was detected from 15 attendees (6.8%) by PCR. MRSA-colonized attendees had a significantly lower rate (0.041) of working in the medical center, while borderline significantly higher rate of working in the Regional Hospital (p=0.056), than those without MRSA colonization. From those 15 samples, 12 MRSA isolates were identified by culture and molecularly characterized. Three PFGE patterns, two sequence types (ST 59, ST 508), and two SCCmec types (IV and VT) were identified, respectively. Five isolates, including three carrying SCCmec types VT, were PVL-positive. All 12 isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, teicoplanin, linezolid, fusidic acid, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and doxycyclin, and resistant to penicillin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Around seven percent of pediatricians in Taiwan harbored CA-MRSA in their nares.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan ; Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yhu-Chering
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Lin-Hui
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Tzou-Yien
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D010372:Pediatrics; D010820:Physicians; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult