Risco ambiental: contaminação por Staphylococcus aureus em um ambiente hospitalar

Abstract

Introduction: Hospital environments are potential reservoirs of bacteria associated with acquired infections. In this study, the distribution and frequency of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in clinically important environmental cultures of a tertiary hospital in Brazil were determined. Material and Methods: The collection was performed at the Hospital de Clínicas of the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia in the public access areas with SWAB in enriched culture for 18 to 24 hours of incubation, followed by isolation with Salted Mannitol Agar and identification of Staphyloccocus aureus. Positive samples were subjected to oxacillin screening using Muller-Hinton Agar supplemented with 4% NaCl and 6µg/mL of oxacillin for MRSA research. Results and discussions: The results showed that the presence of S. aureus was frequent in all sampled locations, with a positive point of 31.1%. The contamination distribution was 8/27 at the reception and 6/18 at the medical clinic. The presence of MRSA and MSSA (methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus) was critical with extremely high frequencies, 31.1%, with 50% positivity in each sampled location. Final Considerations: A high level of environmental contamination by MRSA and MSSA was observed, reinforcing the importance of these environments as potential reservoirs of these microorganisms.