Prevalences and characteristics of cultivable nasal bacteria isolated from preclinical medical students

OBJECTIVES: Commensal bacteria in the nasal cavity may act as opportunistic pathogens that cause infections under certain conditions. Screening for commensal bacteria in the nasal cavity may aid in understanding their roles in microbiota balance and preventing potential infections. METHODS: Nasal samples were collected from healthy preclinical medical students and used to inoculate various bacterial culture media, by means of the WaspLab microbiology automated system. Bacterial colonies were then identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Antibiotic resistance phenotypes of Staphylococcus aureus were determined by antibiotic susceptibility tests. RESULTS: In total, 549 bacterial strains were isolated from 161 participants. These strains included the following genera: Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium, Dolosigranulum, Bacillus, Micrococcus, Haemophilus, Neisseria, Moraxella, Pseudomonas, and members of Enterobacteriaceae (e.g., Escherichia, Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, and Serratia). Approximately 25.5% of students were carriers of S. aureus; most S. aureus isolates were resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, and clindamycin. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus in nasal samples was 4.3%. CONCLUSIONS: A diverse group of nasal commensal bacteria inhabited our population of healthy volunteers. These data can improve comprehension of the potential roles of these nasal commensal bacteria in regulating microbiota balance and promoting or mitigating potential future infections.