Portación de Staphylococcus aureus en manipuladores de alimentos de la ciudad de Gualeguaychú

Food handlers in the community who do not have good personal hygiene can be vehicles for transmission of Staphylococcus aureus (SAU). Their strains have become increasingly resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, which is a problem for food safety. Isolation was performed on samples of hands and nostrils of 49 ice cream dispensers and 43 food handlers. Methicillin resistance was determined in the positive samples using the cefoxitin disk diffusion technique (30 μg) and 24 positive SAU samples were also subjected to enterotoxin detection using VIDAS Staph enterotoxy reagents. Hygienic habits were evaluated, applying a questionnaire. Of the ice cream sellers, 19 were carriers (39%); for the handlers at educational institutions this percentage was 47% (n = 20). Habits and knowledge found have flaws. For the first sampling (n = 30), a resistance in nostrils of 13% (n = 4) and for hands of 7% was obtained, and in the second (n = 20), of 20% (n = 4) and of 5% (n = 1) respectively and for educational institutions (n ​​= 43), of 25% (n = 11) for nostrils and of 19% (n = 8) for hands. They were enterotoxigenic (33%) of the strains. The results showed the presence of MRSA among these handlers and the risk of being disseminators. Courses should focus on preventive measures of contamination of food and talk about the importance of this issue working interdisciplinary with professionals in the field and with those responsible for public health.