[Hvidovre Hospital. Measures to control the spread of imported multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus]

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are endemic in many hospitals abroad. Patients transferred from these hospitals may give rise to a spread of MRSA in Scandinavian hospitals, where MRSA only occur sporadically. A spread of MRSA may have great therapeutic and economic consequences for the local health care system and should therefore be met by strict hygienic measures. In Hvidovre Hospital patients transferred from or recently admitted to hospitals outside Scandinavia, are screened for MRSA. Patients carrying MRSA are isolated and discharged as soon as possible. Attempts are made to eliminate the carrier state by means of chlorhexidine.