Role of nasal swab culture in guiding antimicrobial therapy for acute cellulitis in the era of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: A prospective study of 89 patients

Abstract

In this prospective study of 89 patients with acute cellulitis, we showed nasal swab culture of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), taken at enrollment, has a high specificity of 95% in predicting MRSA cellulitis among the 24 patients whose cellulitis became purulent. However, the sensitivity is only 20%.

Keywords: Cellulitis; MRSA; Nasal colonization; Staphylococcus aureus.