Introduction Staphylococcus aureus naturally colonises the skin and mucous membranes of humans, with the preferences of the nostrils. It represent an important pathogen for humans to cause a wide spectrum of diseases, including, skin diseases, soft tissues, bones, urinary tract and opportunistic infections, Staphylococcus aureus was one of the featured species. The production of penicillinase (β-lactamase) by Staphylococcus aureus has been associated with resistance that these microorganisms have developed to penicillin, used for the first time in 1941. The aim of the study was to identify the resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics in people living with HIV/AIDS.

Methods A cross-sectional was performed from August/2011 to July/2012, with people living with HIV/AIDS admitted in a reference institution in São Paulo State, Brazil. A swab Stuart was used to collect the nostril material, in the first day of admission and it was processed at the microbiology laboratory. For descriptive statistics, we used SPSS version 17.0.

Results Among the 169 participants 57.4% were men, age range from 40–49 years old, in 39.6% were, white Ethnicity was predominant (63.9%). We identified 46 Staphylococcus aureus which were resistant to the following antibiotics: penicillin (89.1%), ampicillin (86.8%), erythromycin (34.8%) and oxacillin (21.8%).

Conclusion Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen of clinical importance, that may cause various infections. Prevention and control measures can be instituted to minimise the spread of this microorganism in the hospital and in the community, such as screening patients, specific actions to colonised or infected people and standard and contact precautions used by health professionals.

Disclosure of interest statement The above authors declare that they do not have any potential conflict of interest in this study.