PubMed1977
The isolation of Staphylococcus aureus from the pharynx, the nasal vestibule, as well as the eye-glasses and palms of both clinical personnel and of healthy subjects of the general population, resp., is reported. In either group, the findings were largely identical. About half of the subjects (46%) proved to be carriers of staphylococci, with the bacteria being mostly localized in the nasal vestibule (91%) rather than in the pharynx. The majority of those harbouring staphylococci in their nasal vesibule carried the same strains on their eye-glasses (67%) and on their hands (62%). The reason for the occurrence of pathogenic staphylococci, in most cases, in the nasal vestibule may be seen in the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the pharynx and nasal vestibule, resp. While there is a highly efficient anti-bacterial defence system on the basis of both cellular and humoral mechanisms in the pharynx and oral cavity, the keratinizing stratified epithelium lining the nasal vestibule offers a milieu favourable for bacterial growth with regard to nutrients, temperature, and humidity, humoral and cellular defence mechanisms being virtually absent. With respect to nosocomial problems, the important conclusions to been drawn from the present data are the following: 1. surgical masks barring the penetration of bacteria should be used frequently, not only during surgical operations but also in emergency wards, infant care and premature baby wards, and in similar clinical areas requiring critical attention. 2. persons dependent on wearing eye-glasses should wear sterilized glasses when performing surgery, or subject their glasses to an efficient disinfection procedure. The latter also applies to all personnel wearing glasses in the clinical area. 3. The very frequent association between the occurrence of staphylococci in the nasal vestibule and the contamination of hands makes it imperative to observe a strict rountine of disinfection of hands in all critical areas (emergency ward, premature baby care etc.). In food hygiene, too, proper attention should be paid to the chain of staphylococcal contamination from nose to food. Therefore, to minimize the hazard in such high-risk situations as public canteens and in the manufacture of ice cream, a well-planned routine of hand disinfection should be adhered to.