Hakkı ÖZTÜRK, Metin ÖZSOY
Intercontinental Journal of Internal Medicine - 2026;4(1):9-12
Aims: The aim of this study is to determine the rates of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) nasal carriage, considered one of the most important sources of infection in patients undergoing haemodialysis treatment due to chronic kidney disease, and the susceptibility of S. aureus to mupirocin and fusidic acid. Methods: The study included a total of 165 patients, comprising 55 women (33.3%) and 109 men (66.03%), who had been receiving treatment at the same dialysis centre for at least one year and underwent haemodialysis three times a week. Nasal swab samples were inoculated onto mannitol-salt agar (Beslab, Turkiye). The media were incubated at 37 dereceC for 72 hours. Methicillin resistance was determined on Mueller-Hinton agar medium using cefoxitin discs (Bioanalyse, Turkiye), and mupirocin and fusidic acid sensitivities were determined using the disc diffusion method with discs of these antibiotics (Bioanalyse, Turkiye). Results: A total of 165 patients were tested, and S. aureus was detected in 14 (8.48%); 9 (5.45%) were meticillin-sensitive; of the sensitive strains, 2 were resistant to mupirocin and 2 were resistant to fusidic acid. In 5 (3.03%) of the 165 patients, methicillin-resistant S. aureus was detected; 1 was resistant to mupirocin and 1 was resistant to fusidic acid. Conclusion: It has been found that the rate of S. aureus nasal carriage is low in haemodialysis patients. The resistance rates of methicillin-sensitive strains to mupirocin and fusidic acid were higher than the resistance rates of susceptible strains. Eliminating nasal carriage is an important approach to protecting dialysis patients from infection.
