Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a ten-year survey in a Dublin hospital

We undertook a retrospective, longitudinal survey to monitor the changing incidence, phage types and patterns of antibiotic resistance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in St Laurence's Hospital (SLH), Dublin over the last 10 years. Following a peak in 1979, the incidence of MRSA has gradually decreased to around 17% of S. aureus isolates in 1986, almost identical to its incidence 10 years before. However, the spectrum of antibiotic resistance among these organisms remains broad and this seems to be at least partially related to antibiotic usage. Many strains could not be phage typed and others were typable only by the additional phage 90. This has severely limited the usefulness of phage typing in the tracing of sources of outbreaks. Thus, there is a need for a more specific method of typing as well as a rational antibiotic policy, to successfully monitor and curtail the hospital spread of MRSA.