Management of patients with epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: experience at an infectious diseases unit.

Between January 1983 and April 1984 60 patients completed their admission to an infectious diseases unit for management of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. All had been shown to be colonized with a particular epidemic strain (EMRSA), and most isolates were from the nose or from broken skin sites. Eight patients were thought to have systemic EMRSA infection, of whom three had bacteraemia. Ten of the 60 patients died of severe underlying disease, eight were discharged home well but still colonized with EMRSA, four never had positive isolates after admission, and the remaining 38 cleared their EMRSA colonization in an average of 2 months. Five patients had further isolates of EMRSA after three negative, weekly screening tests and one after four negative screenings. No patients had further isolates after five or more negative screening tests.