[Is it necessary to know which workers are carriers of MRSA in contact with cancer patients?].

Our objective was to determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in workers who had direct contact with oncologic patients infected with MRSA and admitted to the intensive care unit of the Valencian Institute of Oncology. A study of prevalence of MRSA colonization of 62 workers was performed. Samples were taken from nose and pharynx in each of the workers. After 24 hours of incubation in Amies transport medium Viscose (Eurotubo®), 124 samples were seeded (N = 124) in chocolate agar agar, MRSA II and BHI broth (Brain Heart Infusion). Those colonies that were identified by Gram stain gram-positive cocci in clusters available, catalase positive and coagulase positive were processed for study of sensitivity by Kirby-Bauer method and screening test for methicillin (10μg of Oxoid®) on Mueller-Hinton (Becton-Dickinson®, BD), supplemented with NaCl (2%). Those confirmed MRSA isolates, he returned to perform sensitivity study by microdilution (MicroScan®, Siemens) to determine the MIC (mg/L). The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was 1.61% (1) and 12.90% (8) for methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), from nostrils. The measures implemented were: nasal application of mupirocin to the worker colonized control isolation measures in infected patients and indoctrination of the personnel involved.