Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and hygiene practices among food handlers in Skopje, North Macedonia Cover

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and hygiene practices among food handlers in Skopje, North Macedonia

Open Access
|Jun 2026

Figures & Tables

Prevalence of MSSA and MRSA nasal carriage among food handlers in Skopje (with 95 % CI)

CategoryNPrevalence (%)95 % CI
MSSA and MRSA3612.58.7–16.3
MSSA3411.88.1–15.5
MRSA20.70–1.7

Nasal S_ aureus carriage association with gender, job, body mass index, tooth brushing frequency, facial hair presence, nail hygiene, nose picking, nose rinsing, and hand washing

VariableNasal carriersNon-carriersTotalChi-squaredfp
n%n%n
Gender
Male2215.711846.61402.64210.104
Female149.413553.4149
Total3612.5253100289
Job
Cook, baker, assistant cook228.6571.475.67690.772
Distributor116.7583.316
Quality control001910019
Storekeeper915.35084.759
Packager111.1888.99
Salesman0011001
Worker in production1913.112686.9145
Caterer210189020
Cleaner112.5787.58
Worker16.71493.315
Body mass index
Underweight12537548.73650.120
Normal weight98.39991.7108
Overweight1210.510289.5114
Obesity class I1021.73678.346
Obesity class II425127516
Obesity class III0011001
Daily tooth brushing frequency
0817.83782.2456.54640.162
11216.76083.372
211812692137
33102589.328
≥4228.6571.47
Facial hair
Beard49.53890.5420.38810.534
No beard321321587247
Moustache411.13288.9360.06810.794
No moustache3212.622187.4253
Nail hygiene
Tidy2811.621488.42421.29410.255
Untidy817398347
Nose picking frequency
Often317.61482.4172.25030.522
Rarely917.64282.451
Very rarely910.27989.888
Not at all1511.311888.7133
Nasal rinsing before work
Yes1312.59187.51042.06120.357
No1914.711085.3129
Sometimes47.15292.956
Nasal rinsing after work
Yes1112.87587.2860.19420.907
No1912.912887.1147
Sometimes610.75089.356
Hand washing after using restroom
Yes3412249882832.44910.118
Sometimes233.3466.76
Hand washing with soap after nose picking
Yes2612.618087.42061.32520.515
No59.15090.955
Sometimes517.92382.128
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2026-77-4035 | Journal eISSN: 1848-6312 | Journal ISSN: 0004-1254
Language: English
Page range: 96 - 101
Submitted on: Aug 1, 2025
Accepted on: May 1, 2026
Published on: Jun 30, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:

© 2026 Jansun Bukovetz, Jovan Todorovski, Gyltene Zendeli, Dragan Mijakoski, Mihail Kočubovski, Vesna Kotevska, Igor Spiroski, published by Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.