Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus on armpits of secondary school and university students in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

A study of carriage of Staphylococcus aureus on armpits and factors affecting it was carried out on 50 students from Community Secondary School, Oroworokwu, Port Harcourt and 50 University of Port Harcourt students. Samples were inoculated onto mannitol salt agar plates and coagulate positive S. aureus isolates were identified. Questionnaires on gender and health related factors were given to students before collection of samples. Epi-info version 6 software was used for data analysis. Most students regardless of age or sex, used toilet soap (63%), had their bath twice daily (84%), used sponge (78.6%), shaved regularly (89.9%) and 80% did not use powders on armpits. More females used powders (P=0.00170). Only 12.2% of teenagers used deodorants compared to 80.4% adults. Teenagers had significantly more profuse growth (P = 0.038), pure cultures (P = 0.036) on primary isolation, and S. aureus carriage of 61.2% compared to 25.5% for adults (P = 0.0003) and use of deodorants (P = 0.0003) influenced S. aureus Carriage. Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, carriage, Armpit, students. AJAZEB Vol. 7 2005: pp. 125-130