In order to determine the frequency and distribution of nasal carriers of staphylococcus aureus and their antimicrobial resistance in hospital staff, a cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 126 hospital staff and on 130 non-hospital staff of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences as control group.

Speciments of nasal swabs were cultured on blood agar and the isolated coagulase positive staphylococci were tested for antibiotic sensetivity to commonly used antibiotics.

The results suggested that the nasal carriers rate of S. aureus was higher in hospital staff than in control group (31.7% against 25.4%). The rate for physicians was 61.1% and it was significantly higher than other hospital staff) nurse, staff nurse, auxiliary). It was also found that there is no significant difference between the prevalence of nasal carriers of S. aureus among the hospital staff in different wards. The factors such as age, sex, and length  of employment did not have a significant effect on carriers rate.

All isolated strains were resistant to penicillin. Resistance to cloxacillin was higher in isolated strain from hospital staff in control group (20% against 6%). However, sensitivity to other antimicrobial agents was high.