Prevalência de Staphylococcus aureus em jalecos de graduandos e profissionais da saúde na Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

Abstract

Lab coats are one of the first sites of contamination in terms of health clothing that come into contact with patients' skin, fluids and secretions. In this way they carry from one place to another easily pathogenic microorganisms. This study aimed to evaluate the contamination of Staphylococcus aureus in coats of health professionals and undergraduate students evaluating the resistance of recovered strains. Samples of 175 coats were collected, which were cultivated in specific medium and passed identification tests for the target microorganism. In addition to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for the mecA gene. Approximately 25% of student coats were contaminated with S. aureus and 19% of professionals. Three relevant resistance phenotypes were identified, namely MSRA, BORSA and MLSB, in which some strains presented up to two phenotypes simultaneously, illustrating their multiresistant characteristics. Thus, we conclude that both professional and undergraduate lab coats are an important source of pathogen transmission and their use should be restricted to care areas and laboratory environments.