[Prevalence of nasal colonization by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in medical students in Chile: comparison between pre-clinical and clinical environment].

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of nasal colonization of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in medical students in pre-clinical versus clinical courses at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and to describe the epidemiological, clinical and molecular pattern of the MRSA strains obtained.

Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 299 undergraduate and graduate medical students from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 44 first-year students and 29 second-year students, corresponding to students of courses without regular clinical exposure and 26 sixth-year students, 58 seventh-year and 142 residents, who are daily exposed to hospital environments.

Results: A carriage of 0% (0/73) was found in students not exposed to the clinic (pre-clinical courses) and 0.