Mupirocin: a new topical antibiotic.

One hundred fifty-three strains of Staphylococcus aureus recovered from infected eczema frequently demonstrated resistance to multiple antibiotics. Penicillin and ampicillin resistance was extremely frequent (88%), methicillin resistance was found in nearly 14% of strains, and erythromycin and tetracycline resistance was present in 16%. S. aureus strains were uniformly sensitive to vancomycin, mupirocin, and cephalosporins. Experimental infections in human volunteers showed topical therapy with 2% mupirocin was more effective than oral erythromycin in suppression of both S. aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes.