Nasal colonisation with Staphylococcus aureus is a risk factor for invasive infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals. This study aimed to characterise colonising S. aureus from regions with a high HIV prevalence. Single nasal swabs were taken from a total of 374 HIV-positive and 370 healthy individuals. Overall, 202 S. aureus carriers were detected. Compared with healthy individuals, HIV-positive subjects were more likely to be S. aureus nasal carriers (33% vs. 21%; P=0.0001). Isolates from HIV-positive individuals were more often resistant to meticillin (16% vs. 8%; P=0.13), chloramphenicol (47% vs. 16%; P<0.0001), sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SXT) (90% vs. 55%; P<0.0001) and ciprofloxacin (18% vs. 0%; P<0.0001). Strains belonging to the spa clonal complexes 3772/ST25 and 064/ST8 were significantly more often isolated from HIV-positive individuals and exhibited greater resistance to ciprofloxacin, SXT and chloramphenicol (spa-CC 3772) or to meticillin (spa-CC 064), respectively. Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene content was high overall and was equally distributed between isolates from HIV-positive and healthy individuals (33% vs. 30%). Genotypic characteristics of colonising isolates were similar to those reported to cause invasive infection in Nigeria. The HIV pandemic contributes to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance in S. aureus. Measures to contain antimicrobial resistance of S. aureus in Nigeria must target risk groups such as HIV-positive individuals.
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