Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice

Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice

The outbreak of food poisoning due to Staphylococcus aureus has been reported with a significant level of morbidity worldwide. The outbreaks occur due to lack of proper food handling practices by the food handling personnel. In this study, the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage as well as their...

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Main Author: Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Food handling
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/21442/1/FPSK%28m%29_2011_25R.pdf
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spelling my-upm-ir.214422014-04-15T06:29:44Z Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice 2011-12 Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira The outbreak of food poisoning due to Staphylococcus aureus has been reported with a significant level of morbidity worldwide. The outbreaks occur due to lack of proper food handling practices by the food handling personnel. In this study, the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage as well as their knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) were determined among food handlers and its association with the gender, age, work duration, educational level and food premises. 128 samples taken from nasal swabs of 64 food handlers’ and 64 food items were collected and analyzed. Furthermore during the collection of samples, questionnaire regarding KAP on food hygiene and sanitation were also distributed among the food handlers. The isolates were identified as S. aureus based on colonial morphology, Gram stain, mannitol salt agar fermentation, catalase and coagulase test. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of the isolates were also done in order to study the resistance pattern of the isolates. Twenty three percent of food handlers were found to be positive for S. aureus nasal carriage and 37.5% of the food samples were contaminated with an average of 8.4 x 106 CFU/g. None of the isolates was resistant to oxacillin and mupirocin but most of the isolates (74.4%) were resistant to penicillin. Only 15.4% and 5.1% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and erythromycin, respectively. In addition, seven antibiotic profiles were determined from the antibiotic susceptibility test. The mean score (SD) of the food handlers’ knowledge, attitude and practice were 83.98% (13.26), 82.8% (10.94) and 77.04% (14.98) respectively. Premise grades C proves to be a significant predictor for food handlers knowledge [OR 21.0, (95% CI = 3.522-125.219, P value = 0.001)]. In addition, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with attitude [OR 10.0, (95% CI = 1.988-50.291, P value = 0.005)]. The result for attitude section also showed that food handlers with diploma proves to be a significant predictor for attitude [OR 7.9, (95% CI = 1.890-32.905, P value = 0.005)]. Moreover, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with practice [OR 18.3, (95% CI = 1.440-23.408, P value = 0.005)]. However sociodemographic dharacteristic and food handlers’ KAP have no significant association with food handlers carrier status. The result shows that even though the KAP level of food handlers were excellent, more than 20% of them were S. aureus nasal carriers and the number of contaminated food was also high. Thus, improvement in hygiene and sanitation is needed. Food handling 2011-12 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/21442/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/21442/1/FPSK%28m%29_2011_25R.pdf application/pdf en public masters Universiti Putra Malaysia Food handling Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection PSAS Institutional Repository
language English
topic Food handling
spellingShingle Food handling


Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira
Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
description The outbreak of food poisoning due to Staphylococcus aureus has been reported with a significant level of morbidity worldwide. The outbreaks occur due to lack of proper food handling practices by the food handling personnel. In this study, the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage as well as their knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) were determined among food handlers and its association with the gender, age, work duration, educational level and food premises. 128 samples taken from nasal swabs of 64 food handlers’ and 64 food items were collected and analyzed. Furthermore during the collection of samples, questionnaire regarding KAP on food hygiene and sanitation were also distributed among the food handlers. The isolates were identified as S. aureus based on colonial morphology, Gram stain, mannitol salt agar fermentation, catalase and coagulase test. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of the isolates were also done in order to study the resistance pattern of the isolates. Twenty three percent of food handlers were found to be positive for S. aureus nasal carriage and 37.5% of the food samples were contaminated with an average of 8.4 x 106 CFU/g. None of the isolates was resistant to oxacillin and mupirocin but most of the isolates (74.4%) were resistant to penicillin. Only 15.4% and 5.1% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and erythromycin, respectively. In addition, seven antibiotic profiles were determined from the antibiotic susceptibility test. The mean score (SD) of the food handlers’ knowledge, attitude and practice were 83.98% (13.26), 82.8% (10.94) and 77.04% (14.98) respectively. Premise grades C proves to be a significant predictor for food handlers knowledge [OR 21.0, (95% CI = 3.522-125.219, P value = 0.001)]. In addition, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with attitude [OR 10.0, (95% CI = 1.988-50.291, P value = 0.005)]. The result for attitude section also showed that food handlers with diploma proves to be a significant predictor for attitude [OR 7.9, (95% CI = 1.890-32.905, P value = 0.005)]. Moreover, knowledge on food hygiene and sanitation showed a significant association with practice [OR 18.3, (95% CI = 1.440-23.408, P value = 0.005)]. However sociodemographic dharacteristic and food handlers’ KAP have no significant association with food handlers carrier status. The result shows that even though the KAP level of food handlers were excellent, more than 20% of them were S. aureus nasal carriers and the number of contaminated food was also high. Thus, improvement in hygiene and sanitation is needed.
format Thesis
qualification_level Master's degree
author Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira
author_facet Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira
author_sort Abdul Mutalib, Noor Azira
title Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
title_short Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
title_full Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
title_fullStr Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Food Handlers and in Selected Food and its Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
title_sort prevalence of staphylococcus aureus nasal carriers among food handlers and in selected food and its association with knowledge, attitude and practice
granting_institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
granting_department Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
publishDate 2011
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/21442/1/FPSK%28m%29_2011_25R.pdf
_version_ 1747811493571723264

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