Screening of Nasal and Hands Carriage of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococci Colonization among Lebanese Nutraceuticals Handlers

Introduction: Poor personal hygiene of the nutraceuticals handlers could be a potential source of diseases due to the high occurrence of bacterial contamination. Methods: A cross sectionnal study was conducted among Lebanese nutraceuticals handlers. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for collecting information on age, sex, marital status, service years, educational status, status of training of nutraceuticals-handlers. Results: Nasal and hands swabs were investigated for S. aureus, MRSA, CoNS and MRSE.Among 144 nutraceuticals handlers, 41% and 69% exhibited no bacterial growth in their nasal and hand swabs.The carrier rate of S. aureus was 11.8 and 5.6% for nose and hands in nutraceuticals handlers.The nasal and hands carrier rate of MRSA is 6.3% and 2.1%, respectively.MRSE presented a rate of 10.4% and 7.6% for the nasal and hands carriage. Conclusion: The findings showed that the Lebanese nutraceuticals handlers are a vehicle of different resistant bacterial strains in their nasal and hands carriage,which poses a significant risk to the Lebanese consumer.