Background: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most significantrnpathogen responsible for hospital and community based infections that ranges from mildrnskin infection to serious and invasive disease such as pneumonia, septicemia. Nosocomialrninfections due to MRSA are a known cause of increased hospital stay, cost, morbidity andrnmortality especially among the critically ill patients. In most hospitals of developing countriesrnlike Ethiopia there is no surveillance system for nasal and hand MRSA carriage among HCWs.rnSo, the aim of this study was to assess the carriage of MRSA in HCW.rnMethods: A cross sectional study between Nov/2010-Jan/2011 was carried out to screen all thernhealth care workers (HCW)in all wards of the Ayder Referral Hospital (ARH) and MekellernHospital (MH) for MRSA nasal and hand carriage rate. Swabs of both anterior nares and fingerrnweb of the hands were taken, transported to regional laboratory. The samples were inoculatedrnonto Mannitol Salt agar (MSA)and incubated aerobically at 37rn0rnC for 48 hrs. S. aureus wasrnidentified as mannitol fermenter and coagulase test positive. Anti- microbial susceptibility testrnfor MRSA was done by Kirby-Bauerâ€™s disk diffusion method using oxacillin disk.rnResults: Out of the 177 Health Care Workers screened, 36(20.3 %)of them were MRSA carriersrnin their hand and anterior nares. Females 25(14.1%)were highly colonized by MRSA than malesrn11(6.21 %) (P=0.044, Odds ratio=1.41). Nasal carriage of MRSA 25(14.1 %)was higher thanrnhand carriage 11(6.2 %)(P