Migration is one of the risk factors for the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO). The increasing influx of migrants challenges local health care systems. To provide evidence for both hospital hygiene measure and empirical antibiotic therapy, we analysed all cultures performed in asylum seekers between January 1-st 2014 and December 31-st 2015 for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and for multidrugresistant Enterobacteriaceae (MDRE). We compared these with cultures from the Dutch patient population with risk factors for carriage of MDRO. A total of 7181 patients were screened for MRSA. 7357 S. aureus were isolated in clinical cultures. Of 898 screened asylum seekers, almost 10% were MRSA positive. Of 118 asylum seekers with S. aureus in clinical cultures almost 19% were MRSA positive. The general patient population had a 1.3% rate of MRSA in S. aureus isolates. A higher rate of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) positive strains (RR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.6-3.4) was found in asylum seekers compared to the general patient population. In 33475 patients one or more Enterobacteriaceae were obtained. More than 21% of the asylum seekers were carrier of MDRE, most of them producing extended spectrum beta-lactamases (20.3%). 5.1% of the general patient population was MDRE carrier. It can be concluded that asylum seekers present with higher rate of MDRO compared to the general patient population. These results justify continued screening of asylum seekers to anticipate multidrug-resistant organisms during hospital care of patients. © 2017 Ravensbergen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Netherlands Dutchman refugee mass screening bacterium isolation human Refugees Staphylococcal Infections controlled study nonhuman Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial asylum seeker Humans Enterobacteriaceae risk factor Enterobacteriaceae Infections prevalence isolation and purification hospital hygiene Article multidrug resistance major clinical study antibiotic therapy migration Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacterium carrier Panton Valentine leukocidin retrospective study bacterium culture methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus extended spectrum beta lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae