[Resistance against mercury and cadmium by Staphylococcus aureus of diverse ecological origin]

For S. aureus isolates of different ecological origin, MIC-values for HgCl2 and CdSO4 were determined on a synthetical medium. Only strains from outbreaks of suppurative infections in hospitals were resistant to mercury, strains from infections in out-patients, from healthy human nasal carriers, from infections in cattle, sheep, chicken, and pigs were sensitive. Resistance to cadmium occurred in strains from man and from cattle but not in strains from sheep, chicken, and pigs. The majority of the cadmium-resistant strains was also resistant to penicillin, but some strains were only resistant to cadmium and sensitive to antibiotics.