Pneumonia due to Staphylococcus aureus during mechanical ventilation.

The incidence of pneumonia due to Staphylococcus aureus in patients treated with mechanical ventilation in an intensive-therapy unit was investigated in a prospective study. Of 295 ventilated patients treated during one year, 17 developed S. aureus pneumonia and 26 developed colonization of lower airways by S. aureus. Neurosurgical patients treated with hyperventilation, sedation, cooling, and steroids had a significantly higher frequency of both S. aureus pneumonia (25.9%) and S. aureus colonization (27.8%) compared with other ventilated patients (1.2% and 4.6%, respectively). The epidemiologic and clinical findings indicate that neurosurgical patients have an increased susceptibility to infections of airways with S. aureus.