Methicillin Resistance and Staphylococcus aureus in Nasal Cultures Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of the Results

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic remains a serious problem adversely affecting public health. The present study has been conducted in an attempt to evaluate the nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus before and during the pandemic. Methods: In this study, the results of nasal cultures taken from patients who applied to our hospital for screening before and during the pandemic were retrospectively analyzed. Results: In total, 2707 patients participated in the study. Out of these patients, 1602 were admitted to our hospital in 2019 and 1105 in 2020. According to the results of the study, the detection rates of Staphylococcus aureus were found to be 5.1% and 0.8% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Such a decrease occurring during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic period was found to be statistically significant (χ2 = 36.61; P = .000). On the other hand, an increase was detected in the rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus during the pandemic. It was determined to be 17.3% in 2019 whereas it was 55.6% in 2020. This was found to be statistically significant (χ2 = 7.12; P = .008). Conclusions: According to this study, there was a sharp decrease in Staphylococcus aureus carriage during the pandemic period compared to pre-pandemic, while methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus rates increased more than 3 folds. This increase in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus rates may be due to the increasing trend of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in recent years or may indicate that it depends on the measures associated with the pandemic. Further research in this area is essential.