Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at Tygerberg Hospital.

During 1985 Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from blood cultures of 74 patients at Tygerberg Hospital who were suffering from serious illness compatible with systemic spread of the organism. Twenty-six isolates (35%) were community-acquired and none were methicillin-resistant, while 48 were hospital-acquired of which 23 (48%) were methicillin-resistant. Methicillin resistance appears to be a problem confined to hospital isolates of S. aureus.