Antibiotic susceptibility and phage-type pattern of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from patients in general practice compared to strains from hospitalized patients.

Phage-type patterns and antibiotic susceptibility have been examined in 904 Staphylococcus aureus strains from general practice in the Copenhagen municipality, in 1107 strains from hospitals in the Copenhagen municipality and in 18,028 strains isolated in 1988 from inpatients all over Denmark. The phage-type patterns of the 3 materials were very similar except for a slightly higher frequency of group II strains among isolates from general practice (24% compared to 19%). Penicillin resistance was high (86-87%) in all materials. Resistance to tetracycline and erythromycin was more frequent in strains from general practice (8.6% and 3.8%) than in strains both from hospitals in the same area (3.6% an 2.2%) and in all Danish hospitals (5.3% and 2.4%). This indicates that the restrictive use of antibiotics in hospitals seems to have eliminated the previous preponderance of multiresistant staphylococci in hospitals compared to community acquired staphylococci. It even seems as if the less restrictive use of tetracycline and erythromycin in general practice has now inversed the situation.