Objective: To determine the prevalence of staphylococcus aureus in nasal carriers of healthy individuals and to evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility pattern.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Swabi, Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, from October 2016 to April 2017, and comprised samples collected from nasal cavities of healthy students aged 19-26 years with the help of a sterile swab. For antibiotic susceptibility test, Kirby-Bauerdisc diffusion test was performed according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards and Institute.
Results: Of the 200 samples, staphylococcus aureus was detected in 41(20.5%). Among them, 27(65.85%) strains were isolated from male samples and 14(34.14%) from female samples. All (100%) strains were found to be sensitive to Cefoxitin and Linezolid, while all (100%) were resistant to Penicillin.
Conclusions: Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization was found more in male than female isolates. Cefoxitin and Linezolid were the most effective drugs against the isolates, which were all resistant to Penicillin.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, Antibiotic, CLSI, Resistant, Sensitive. (JPMA 70: 1154; 2020).