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Nasal self-swabbing for estimating the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in the community
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and, therefore, a burden on healthcare systems. Our aim was to estimate the current rate of nasal S. aureus carriage in the general population and to determine the feasibility of nasal self-swabbing as a means of detection. Two thousand people (1200 adults and 800 children) from a single NHS general practice in Southampton, UK, were randomly selected from a general practice age sex register, stratified by age and sex, and invited to undertake nasal self-swabbing in their own home. Overall, 362 (32.5 %) swabs from adults and 168 (22 %) from children were returned. Responses were greater for adults and those of increased age, female gender and decreasing socio-economic deprivation. The overall estimated practice carriage rate of S. aureus directly standardized for age sex was 28 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 26.1–30.2 %]. Carriage of meticillin-susceptible S. aureus was 27 % (95 % CI 26.1–30.2 %), whilst that of meticillin-resistant S. aureus was 1.9 % (95 % CI 0.7–3.1 %). Although nasal self-swabbing rates were relatively low, they are comparable to other studies and may allow large population-based carriage studies to be undertaken at relatively low cost. Importantly, this study updates prevalence data for S. aureus carriage in the community.
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© 2013 SGM