Staphylococcus aureus detection and transmission in the anesthesia work area during cesarean delivery

Earlier, we found that non-obstetrical patients developed surgical site infection for 2.0 % of cases without Staphylococcus aureus transmission through anesthesia work areas, 11 % with S. aureus transmitted susceptible to prophylactic antibiotic, and 18 % with transmission of antibiotic-resistant isolates. Pregnancy was exclusion criterion. We aimed to measure S. aureus transmission within and between anesthesia work areas of cesarean delivery cases. Microbiological sampling was performed during this case series of 81 cesarean delivery cases, May–August 2025, in the busiest operating room of a large teaching hospital. There were ≤ 15 reservoirs sampled per case (e.g., anesthetist's hands at the start and end of the cases). 18 cases (22 %) had ≥1 of 23 detected S. aureus transmission events, three between cases and four methicillin resistant. The observed transmission rate during cesarean deliveries was comparable to the 20 % observed with regular use of an infection prevention bundle before adding individualized feedback on contamination and S. aureus transmission.