Multiply antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis in patients, staff and environment--a one-week survey in a bone marrow transplant unit.

The distribution of Staphylococcus epidermidis resistant to ciprofloxacin and/or gentamicin was studied in an isolation unit for patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. During 1 week all such strains colonizing patients or staff members or found on the clothes of staff or in the air were investigated. Antibiograms and plasmid profiles were used for epidemiological typing. Thirty-one different antibiograms were found. A few strains were widely spread and dominated quantitatively. Staff colonization was 23%, but contamination of their clothes was 82%. Two strains which colonized three of the patients were widely spread in the air. They were found in the corridor and in every patient room, even where the patient was not colonized. The main source of the environmental contamination seems to have been patients. Possible routes of infection were direct airborne transmission as well as passive transfer via staff.