OBJECTIVE To understand the status of Staphylococcus aureus colonization on the hands and nasal vestibule of clinical healthcare workers and explore the risk factors for the S. aureus colonization on nasal vestibule of the healthcare workers so as to provide bases for reducing the risk of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and for standard clinical precautions.

METHODS The specimens were collected from the hands and nasal vestibule of all the health care workers from ICU, emergency ICU (EICU) and neurosurgery department of The First People's Hospital of Tianshui between Jan. 2025 to May. 2025. The specimens were cultured for S. aureus, the isolated pathogens were identified, and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed.

RESULTS Totally 138 specimens were collected, of which 69 were from hands, and 69 were from nasal vestibule. The colonization rate of S. aureus was 17.39% on the nasal vestibule, 2.90% on the hands (2 strains, 1of which was MRSA), and the colonization rate of MRSA was 8.70% on nasal vestibule. The result of univariate analysis showed that there was significant difference in the colonization rate of S. aureus between the healthcare workers not wearing surgical masks and the healthcare workers wearing surgical masks inappropriately (P < 0.05), and there was significant difference in the colonization rate of S. aureus on the hands at the different sampling time points (P < 0.05). The results of binary logistic regression analysis indicated that whether or not wearing surgical masks was the risk factor for isolation of S. aureus from the nasal vestibule(OR=12.240, P=0.004).

CONCLUSION Wearing masks for personal protection and strictly carrying out the hand hygiene are important prevention measures for the health care workers to reduce the colonization rate of S. aureus on hands and nasal vestibule.