An investigation of the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus amongst students of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and some randomly selected private hospitals in Zaria was done. Out of a total of 100 nasal swab specimens collected from the anterior nares of healthy [non-hospitalized] students of the University, 57% were identified as coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus, while of the 77 clinical specimens collected from hospitalized patients [consisting of urine, nasal and wound swabs], 64.93% were positively identified as S. aureus. Resistances of the community isolates to some of the antibiotics screened were: mupirocin-low (40%), mupirocin-high (28%). No community associated Staphylococcus aureus isolate was resistant to ciprofloxacin; while 10(18%) isolates were resistant to methcillin and 9(16%) were of intermediate resistance to vancomycin. On the other hand, the hospital isolates had the following resistance profiles: methicillin (n=13; 26%), penicillin G (n=45; 90%), vancomycin (n=25; 50%), ciprofloxacin (n=13; 26%), mupirocin-low (n=41; 82%) and mupirocin-high (n=47; 94%). Based on their performances in this study, vancomycin and ciprofloxacin are recommended for the management of MRSA, however, there is a need to monitor the use of antibiotics in our environment in order to avoid increased resistances and the attendant consequences.

Keywords: nasal, methicillin, Staphylococcus aureus, community, acquired, infections

Key words: nasal, methicillin, Staphylococcus aureus, community, acquired, infections

Running title: MRSA from hospital and community sources.