Background and Objective: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in ICU patients. The main way for distribution of this organism is nasal carriage personnel and patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of mupirocin ointment to eradicate nasal S. aureus in intensive care unit (ICU) staff of Panjome Azar hospital, Gorgan, Iran.

Methods: In the first quarter, the prevalence of S. aureus was determined in ICU patients by routine microbiological methods and biochemical tests. The nasal samples were also obtained from all new patients admitted to the ICU as well as the ICU staff. Then, the mupirocin nasal ointment 2% was applied in persons with nasal carriage of S. aureus. After 5 weeks, a posttreatment sample was taken and examined. In the third step, during three next months the presence of S. aureus and its resistance to methicillin was evaluated in the new patients with the same method at the first step.

Results: Out of 60 ICU staff participating in sampling, 7 staffs (11.7%) and out of 240 ICU patients, 2 patients were carriage for S. aureus. Of the 9 isolates, only 2 of them (22.2%) were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).In first step (before intervention), only the 5 samples (2.8%) taken from the 120 patients were positive for S. aureus that 2 of them were MRSA, but in the third step (after the intervention), of the 120 samples no S. aureus was isolated

Conclusion: Our finding showed that the application of mupirocin nasal ointment was highly effective for eradication of nasal carriage and in preventing nosocomial S. aureus infections in ICU.