Genetic analysis of community isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Western Australia.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) obtained from patients who had not been hospitalized outside Western Australia (WA) were studied for antimicrobial resistance and plasmid content and by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. They were found to be of several types, none of which appeared to be related to MRSA which have been previously studied. It appears that new MRSA strains have emerged in communities in the far north of WA and are being isolated at an increasing frequency in Perth hospitals 2000 km south.