Infectious disease agent surveillance in fitness centers in northern cyprus: is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) infection a threat?

Fitness centers offer an opportunity for investigating the indirect transmission of pathogens. Many people with varying levels of personal hygiene share sports equipment where direct surface-to-skin contact occurs. This study aimed to investigate the bacterial load and fungal and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contamination on predetermined sports equipment in fitness centers in Northern Cyprus. Additionally, volunteer personal trainers and gym members were screened to detect whether they were carriers of MRSA. Samples were collected from six fitness centers on sports equipment. MRSA carrier status was investigated for personal trainers (n=10) and gym members (n=100). The study used culture-dependent techniques and used SPSS 20 software for statistical analysis. There was no statistically significant difference between fungal growth on the sports equipment, and Aspergillus spp. were predominant. However, one of the fitness centers had a statistically significant difference in fungal growth compared to the others (p