Background
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S aureus (MSSA) were isolated from environment surfaces sampled from 33 Washington State fire
stations.
Methods
Samples were collected by fire personnel using commercial testing swabs. One to 6
surfaces were sampled per swab with 20 swabs per station. Biochemical tests were used
to confirm MRSA and MSSA isolates. A short survey designed to collect information
on cleaning procedures in the stations was included in the kits.
Results
MRSA was isolated from 8.0% and MSSA from 18.5% of the 653 samples. Nineteen fire
stations (58.0%) were MRSA positive, 27 stations (82.0%) were MSSA positive, and 14
stations (42.4%) were positive for both MSSA and MRSA. Three stations (9.0%) were
negative for MSSA and MRSA. Twelve fire stations (37.5%) reported fire service professionals
with MRSA needing medical care. Positive controls were detected at levels of >102 CFU/mL and negative controls were negative.
Conclusions
The kit system allowed sampling of >2,000 surfaces from fire stations across Washington
State. This is the first time an estimate of the level of MRSA-infected fire personnel
has been determined from multiple districts within a single state. Further work is
needed to determine if these data can be extrapolated to other career-based fire stations
across the country.
Key Words
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Article info
Footnotes
Funding was provided by the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
