• Lorenzo Drago, Laura Cappelletti, Claudio Lamartina, Pedro Berjano, Roberto Mattina, and Elena De Vecchi.
• Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry and Microbiology, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute, Milan Italy; Laboratory of Microbiology and Technical Sciences for Laboratory Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan Italy. Electronic address: lorenzo.drago@unimi.it.
• Injury. 2015 Dec 1; 46 Suppl 8: S77-80.

IntroductionStaphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) colonization among healthcare workers (HCWs) may have implications in development of infections and in spreading of resistance. This study aimed to determine the rate of methicillin-resistant staphylococci carriage in HCWs of spinal surgeries in an Italian Orthopaedic Institute.Materials And MethodsSamples from nares, axillae and hands were inoculated onto appropriate media in order to perform colony counts of methicillin-susceptible and resistant S. aureus and CoNS.ResultsPrevalence of S. aureus and CNS was 42.3% and 98%, respectively. Methicillin-resistance was rather infrequent in S. aureus (13.5%) while it was detected in most of CoNS (90.4%). Methicillin resistant S. aureus were prevalently isolated from nares while axillae showed the highest methicillin-resistant CoNS colonization rates.ConclusionsA relatively high rate of methicillin resistant staphylococci was found among HCWs in spinal surgeries wards, thus evidencing the need for careful prevention measures and for periodic evaluation of spread among HCWs.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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