TABLE 1.

Comparison of the characteristics of the 88 S. aureus carrier patients to those of the 360 noncarrier patients

Patient characteristic	Carriers of S. aureus	Noncarriers of S. aureus
Mean age ± SD (yr)	41.1 ± 19.1	51.6 ± 18.2
Gender (no. of males/no. of females)	43/45	233/127
% of patients from following site of residence:
Bamako	38.7	48.6
Other town in Mali	18.1	16.9
Village in Mali	43.2	31.4
Outside Mali	0	3.1
% of patients with a McCabe index of:
0	85.2	88.3
1	14.7	10.3
9	0	1.4
% of patients in following unit of hospitalization:
Chir A	29.5	21.1
Chir B	20.5	20.6
Urology	50.0	58.3
% of patients with following history of hospitalization:
None	95.5	97.
<1 mo	3.4	2.2
>1 mo, <1 yr	1.1	0.6