Objectives 1. To measure the prevalence of CPSA and β-lactamase positive SA in York College students. 2.To determine if gender, working in healthcare, or working out in a public gym affects carriage of CPSA and β-lactamase positive SA in York College students. 3.To determine if season (fall vs. spring) affects prevalence of CPSA and β-lactamase positive SA in York College students. 4.To measure the antimicrobial susceptibility of SA against Bactrim and Azithromycin. Conclusions 1.Prevalence of CPSA and β –Lactamase positive SA is 24.7% and 12.6% respectively. 2.Prevalence of CPSA is much greater in males than females while prevalence of β- lactamase positive SA is much greater in healthcare workers than non-healthcare workers. 3.Prevalence of β-lactamase positive SA is much greater in the spring than in the fall. Prevalence of CPSA does not vary between seasons. 4.Staphylococcus aureus in the York College student population is resistant to Azithromycin and Penicillin, but not Bactrim. Introduction Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive, facultative anaerobe responsible for the majority of health care associated (nosocomial) infections. S. aureus can express multiple virulence factors including coagulase: the ability to resist phagocytosis and β-lactamase: the ability to break the lactam bond in the penicillin family of antibiotics (Davis et. al., 2004). Coagulase-positive S. aureus (CPSA) has recently been associated with large communities including public gyms and universities (Kuehnert et. al., 2004). CPSA is thought to be becoming resistant to current treatment options due to its high carriage and transmission rates especially in young males (Goff and Dowzicky, 2007). Determining the Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Staphylococcus aureus in York College Students: Nasal swabs in m-staph broth Nasal swabs in m-staph broth Zone of inhibition Plated on antibiotic agar Coagulase β-lactasmase Plated on Mannitol agar ResultsResults Continued Methods Ryan S. Rafferty and Carolyn F. Mathur Ph.D. Department of Biological Sciences, York College of Pennsylvania Literature Cited 1. Davis, K., Stewart, J., Crouch, H., Florez, C., and Hospenthal, D. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nares colonization at hospital admission and its effect on subsequent MRSA infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases : Goff, D. and Dowzicky, M. Prevalence and regional variation of MRSA in the USA and comparative in vitro activity against tigecycline, a glycylcycline antimicrobial. Journal of Medical Microbiology (56): Kuehnert, M., Kruszon-Moran, D., Hill, H., McQuillan, G., McAllister, S., Fosheim, G., McDougal, L., Chaitram, J., Jensen, B., Fridkin, S., Killgore, G., and Tenover, F. Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization in the United States, Journal of Infectious Diseases : Acknowledgements I would like to thank C. Taylor, A. Newson, R. Cheng, S. Giordano, M. Branche, C. Cusick, S. Miller, and J. Fabie for providing data since 2007 that contributes to the depth of my project. I would also like to thank Dr. Mathur for all of her help and support throughout the project. Wikipedia.en