The objective of the present study was to determine the extent of colonization by Staphylococcus aureus and the evolution of carrier status among students of a Technical Nursing Course during their professional training. Forty students participated in the study; samples were collected from their nasal cavity and right and left hands at six different times during the thecnical nursing course. Nineteen students (45.2%) were found to be accasional carriers, 12 (28.6%) were intermittent carriers, 6 (14.3%) were persistent carriers, and 5 (11.9%) were non-carriers, showing that colonization did not increase during the course. Twenty four of them (57.1%) did not perform activities related to nursing before or during the course, whereas 18 (42.9%) performed them.
Healthy Carriers; Staphylococcus aureus; Longitudinal study
