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Journal of Correctional Health Care
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Detection of Staphylococcus aureus Including MRSA on Environmental Surfaces in a Jail Setting

Marilyn Felkner, DrPH

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas, marilyn.felkner{at}dshs.state.tx.us

Kiersten Andrews

College of Natural Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

Leanne H. Field, PhD

College of Natural Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

Jeffery P. Taylor, MPH

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas

Tamara Baldwin

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas

Ana Maria Valle-Rivera, PhD

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas

Jessica Presley

College of Natural Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

Sky Newsome

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas

Eric Casey

Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, Texas

We examined jail environmental surfaces to explore whether they might serve as reservoirs of viable methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We swabbed 132 surfaces, inoculated primary and secondary mannitol salts and oxacillin-resistant screening agar, and used API tests to identify S. aureus and E-tests to determine methicillin/oxacillin resistance. We recovered S. aureus from 10 (7.6%) surfaces; eight (6.1%) isolates were MRSA. We ran pulsed-field gel electrophoresis on six resistant isolates and observed three patterns, one of which was identical to that identified in a previous study of inmates’ nasal specimens. Finding MRSA-contaminated surfaces on a variety of environmental surfaces in the absence of an overt outbreak emphasizes that correctional facilities should have protocols for environmental cleaning as a component of MRSA prevention.

Key Words: jails • Staphylococcus aureus • MRSA • fomites • correctional health care • jails

This version was published on October 1, 2009

Journal of Correctional Health Care, Vol. 15, No. 4, 310-317 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1078345809340425
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