title: Mupirocin resistance in nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among healthcare workers of a tertiary care rural hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mupirocin (pseudomonic acid A) is a topical antimicrobial agent with excellent antistaphylococcal and antistreptococcal activity. A nasal formulation is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for eradicating nasal carriage in adult patients as well as in health care personnel. Resistance to mupirocin has already been reported worldwide. The increasing prevalence of mupirocin resistance among Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) species could be an important threat to the future use of mupirocin against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Thus, this study was carried out to find the prevalence of mupirocin resistance in S. aureus and CoNS by disc diffusion and to determine the rates of high-level and low-level mupirocin resistance in S. aureus and CoNS by disc diffusion.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 140 healthcare workers (HCWs) (doctor, nursing staff, housekeeping staff) were randomly selected. S. aureus and CoNS isolates were tested for mupirocin resistance by the disk diffusion method using 5 μg and 200 μg mupirocin discs. MRSA isolates were tested for antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer disc-diffusion method as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 140 nasal swabs collected from HCWs, S. aureus was isolated in 38 (27.14%), and CoNS was isolated in 73 (52.14%). MRSA was isolated in 20 (14.28%) and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci (MRCoNS) in 34 (24.29%. Methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and MSCoNS isolates were 100% sensitive to mupirocin, but two isolates from MRSA (1.43%) and five from MRCoNS (3.57%) were mupirocin resistant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of mupirocin resistance in MRSA and MRCoNS is a cause for concern. It could be limited by regular surveillance and effective infection control initiatives so to inform health care facilities to guide therapeutic and prophylactic use of mupirocin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, MIMER Medical College, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Dardi Charan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, MIMER Medical College, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Pandey Aastha
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Narayan
keywords: Antibiotic resistance; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci; mupirocin resistance