Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Sep-Dec;2(3-4):136-140.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijpam.2015.09.001. Epub 2015 Oct 3.

The prevalence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among outpatient children in a tertiary hospital: A prospective observational study in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

F Alaklobi  1 , F Aljobair  1 , A Alrashod  2 , R Alhababi  3 , M Alshamrani  1 , W Alamin  2 , Lyubov Lytvyn  4   5 , F Alrouki  2 , D Mertz  4   6
Affiliations

The prevalence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among outpatient children in a tertiary hospital: A prospective observational study in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

F Alaklobi et al. Int J Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2015 Sep-Dec.

Abstract

Background and objectives: The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections among previously healthy persons in community settings, without exposure to health care facilities, has been noted recently. Colonization rates of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) have been reported to range from 0 to 9.2 percent. The nose and open skin areas are considered the most important sites for colonization. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and to describe the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of CA-MRSA among outpatient children.

Patients and methods: We prospectively screened every third consecutive child presenting to our pediatric emergency department of King Saud Medical City, a 275 bed tertiary care teaching hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from March through July 2015.

Results: We analyzed a total of 830 screening results (n = 478 males, 57.6%). Most of the screened patients were from Riyadh (n = 824, 99.3%). A total of 164 (19.8%) were found to be colonized with S. aureus, and of these 38 (4.6%) with MRSA. Thus, the MRSA rate amongst all S. aureus carriers was 23.2%. All MRSA were susceptible to vancomycin, (94.7%) were susceptible to linezolid, (65.8%) to clindamycin, and (89.5%) to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

Conclusion: The rate of MRSA carriage among children in Riyadh province was within the range reported internationally. As the MRSA rate among S. aureus infected children was 23.2%, empirical MRSA coverage should be considered in children with suspected S. aureus infections.

Keywords: Community-associated; MRSA; Prevalence; Saudi Arabia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
S. aureus carriage by age group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Four pediatric deaths from community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—Minnesota and North Dakota, 1997–1999. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1999;48:707–710. - PubMed
    1. Naimi T.S., LeDell K.H., Como-Sabetti K., Borchardt S.M., Boxrud D.J., Etienne J. Comparison of community- and health care—associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. J Am Med Assoc. 2003;290(22):2976–2984. - PubMed
    1. Millar B.C., Loughrey A., Elborn J.S., Moore J.E. Proposed definitions of community-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) J Hosp Infect. 2007;67(2):109–113. - PubMed
    1. Chatterjee S.S., Ray P., Aggarwal A., Das A., Sharma M. A community-based study on nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus. Indian J Med Res. 2009;130(6):742–748. - PubMed
    1. Coia J.E., Duckworth G.J., Edwards D.I., Farrington M., Fry C., Humphreys H. Guidelines for the control and prevention of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in healthcare facilities. J Hosp Infect. 2006;63(Suppl. 1):S1–S44. - PubMed