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Introduction: The prevalence of MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) in haemodialysis patients has increased dramatically during recent years. The aim of our study is to determine the prevalence of MRSA colonization among haemodialysis patients and medical staff., Material and Methods: This prospective study included 235 patients undergoing haemodialysis therapy and 60 medical staff members, in the Center for Haemodialysis Sarajevo. Nasal and throat samples were taken (identification of MRSA was performed using standard microbiological methods). A total of 474 nasal and throat cultures from patients' samples and 120 cultures from medical staff samples were obtained., Results and Discussion: The total number of sampled patients was 235 and colonies were found in 36 of the samples (15.3%). Among medical staff nasal carriage rate of MRSA was 11.6% (7/60). The mean age of haemodialysis patients with MRSA was 52.94:1:5.3. The patients aged between 55 and 64 had the highest prevalence of MRSA (11/36, 30.55%). Those aged 45-54 had the next highest prevalence of nasal carriage (10/36, 27.77%). Patients aged 65 years had middle prevalence of MRSA (6/36, 8.33%). Patients aged 25-34 had the lowest prevalence of nasal carriage. We did not have possibilities to isolate MRSA positive dialysis patients, and we used intensive antibacterial prophylaxis. We treated our patients with mupirocin ointment (three times a day for 5-14 days) and gained decolonization in 34 patients (94.4%). In the treatment period, positive medical staff did not come to work., Conclusion: The overall prevalence of MRSA colonization in our dialysis patients was higher (15.3%). Implementation of adequate strategies for prevention of MRSA with application of mupirocin among carriers, reduced prevalence of MRSA in our dialysis units.

Introduction: Recent studies show that psychological status of HD patients has been changed in terms of an increased score of the called neurotic triad: hypochondria, depression and hysteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the development of psychopathological tendencies in HD patients and the demographic features such as: gender, age, marital status, education level, employment status and HD duration., Material and Methods: There were 56 patients on HD. Depending on registered psychopathological tendencies, we compared patients according to the mentioned demographical characteristics. We applied MMPI 201. Previously, all patients were psychologically examined by explorative interview regarding demographical data and the pre-dialysis psychological status. To compare categorical variations, we use 6 multivariant analysis of variance. A p value of <0.5 was considered to be statistically significant., Results: The overall profile of psychopathological tendencies of HD patients indicates increase of scores on neurotic triad. Female patients showed significantly higher level of psychosteny than male patients (FPt=4.86, p<0.05): singles showed significantly higher scores on some psychotic subscales--paranoia, schizophrenia, mania--in relation to the group of married patients (FPa=7.21, FSc=6.84, FMa=5.35, p<0.05): patients with only primary school have significantly more expressive paranoia in relation to patients with university education (FPa=3.80, p<0.05); unemployed patients have significantly more expressed paranoia and tendencies to emphasize pathology in relation to employed patients (FF=5.13, FPa=5.94, p<0.05)., Conclusion: Depression could be taken as a a primary psychiatric complication associated with life on haemodialysis. Gender, marital status, education level and employment status significantly influence the differences in occurrences of psychopathological tendencies in HD patients.