The Hospital Nursery as a Source of Staphylococcal Disease among Families of Newborn Infants

Abstract

NUMEROUS studies have demonstrated that the newborn infant who acquires a pathogenic staphylococcus in the hospital nursery may retain it asymptomatically for many months, may experience recurrent disease or may initiate disease within the family. Although several studies have assessed the incidence of disease among infants and mothers within the first few months, quantification of the risk to the entire family over a long period has seldom been attempted.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12} About sixteen months after an antibiotic-resistant Type 80/81 staphylococcus caused an outbreak of impetigo in our nursery, we undertook to determine to what extent the strain still persisted among the infants . . .