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Volume 62, Issue 3

Nasal self-swabbing for estimating the prevalence of in the community Free

Abstract

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 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 directly standardized for age sex was 28 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 26.1–30.2 %]. Carriage of meticillin-susceptible was 27 % (95 % CI 26.1–30.2 %), whilst that of meticillin-resistant 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 carriage in the community.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
© 2013 SGM
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2013-03-01
2024-04-26
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Nasal self-swabbing for estimating the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in the community
J. Med. Microbiol. 62, 437 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.051854-0
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.051854-0
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.051854-0
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