[An attempt to control nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection]

A strain of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first isolated in our hospital in March 1986. Since then, MRSA has become a difficult pathogen and a cause of sepsis, bacterial endocarditis, and pneumonia in 1988. Rigorous hospital-wide control measures have been planned. The major control measures, based on the various investigations reported, consist of the following three points; improvement of environmental control, reinforcement of handwashing practices during care and control usage of antibiotics. The frequency of isolation of MRSA among the S. aureus isolates was 43.3% in 1988 and this was further reduced to 31.7% in 1990. The total number of MRSA isolates from decubitus, bile, and blood samples have also declined. This decline resulted in a reduction of cases of severe MRSA infection. As yet, MRSA strain are still isolated on incubation. There may be a limit to complete control by measures in a single hospital. It is desired that regional measures and national consensus on nosocomial infection be established.