Nasal self-swabbing for estimating the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in the community

Gamblin, J., Jefferies, Johanna M.C., Harris, S., Ahmad, N., Marsh, P., Faust, S.N., Fraser, S., Moore, Michael, Roderick, Paul, Blair, I. and Clarke, Stuart C. (2013) Nasal self-swabbing for estimating the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in the community. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 62 (Pt 3), 437-440. (doi:10.1099/jmm.0.051854-0). (PMID:23222858)

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and therefore a burden on healthcare systems. Our aim was to estimate the current rate of nasal S. aureus carriage in the general population and to determine the feasibility of nasal self-swabbing. Two thousand people (1200 adults and 800 children) from a single NHS general practice in Southampton UK were randomly selected from a GP age sex register, stratified by age and sex, and invited to undertake nasal self-swabbing in their own home. Overall, 362 (32.5%) adult and 168 (22%) child swabs were returned. Responses were greater for adults, increased age, female gender and decreasing socio-economic deprivation. The overall estimated practice carriage rate of S. aureus directly standardised for age sex was 28% (95% CI 26.1% to 30.2%). Carriage of meticillin-susceptible S. aureus was 27% (95% CI 26.1% to 30.2%) whilst that of meticillin resistant S. aureus was 1.9% (95% CI 0.7% to 3.1%). Although nasal self-swabbing rates were relatively low, they are comparable to other studies and may allow large population-based carriage studies to be undertaken at relatively low cost. Importantly, this study updates prevalence data for S. aureus carriage in the community.

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Contributors

Author: S.N. Faust

Author: S. Fraser

Author: Michael Moore

Author: Paul Roderick

Author: Stuart C. Clarke

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