Nasal Carriage of MRSA in healthy preschool children

Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen responsible for community as well as hospital-associated infections. There is increasing evidence that community acquired methicillin-resistant S.aureus (CA-MRSA) is spreading among healthy individuals, especially children. Nasal carriage of S.aureus acts as endogenous reservoir for clinical infections in the colonized individual but also as a source of cross colonization for community spread. The colonized individuals tend to have a complicated clinical course due to increasing resistance in S.aureus isolates and their ability to cause deep seated infections and sepsis. Therefore urgent measures are needed to prevent further spread of MRSA. An improved understanding of epidemiology and resistance mechanisms of CA-MRSA is required for designing better strategies to prevent its further spread. Studies on nasal carriage and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of S.aureus in children are few. The present study is done to understand the epidemiology of nasal carriage of MRSA and its antimicrobial susceptibility in healthy Indian children younger than 5 years old.