Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic microorganism responsible for mild to life threatening infection. It’s one of the most common cause of hospital acquired infections with community acquired S. aureus infection likewise widely reported. Emergence of methicillin resistant S. aureus represents a significant public health challenge as this limits available treatment options for S. aureus infections. Fomites are being increasingly recognised as a significant means of transmission of S. aureus infections. In this study we examined the occurrence of S. aureus on common hospital and non-hospital fomites and their susceptibility to commonly used antibiotics in the treatment of methicillin resistance S. aureus infection.
Selected fomites in hospital and non-hospital environments were sampled using a cotton swab technique. Isolates were identified as S. aureus using their morphological characteristics on mannitol salt agar and biochemical characteristics. The susceptibility of isolated S. aureus to selected antibiotics was determined using a disc diffusion method.
More than 50% of sampled fomites were positive for S. aureus colonisation. Hospital and non- hospital isolates of S. aureus generally showed a similar susceptibility pattern to selected antibiotics except in their susceptibility to vancomycin and lincomycin.
Results from this study showed that fomites may present a significant risk of S. aureus infection.

Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotics resistance, fomites