Eradication of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus From a Health Center Ward and Associated Nursing Home

Abstract

DURING the past 2 decades, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become an increasingly common microorganism in hospitals worldwide.^1-4 However, in Finland, MRSA has remained uncommon, with only 0% to 0.5% of blood isolates of S aureus annually resistant to methicillin.^5,6 Although several hospital outbreaks of MRSA occurred in Finland during the 1990s, the spread was effectively controlled on most occasions.⁶ After containment of an MRSA epidemic at the Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, in 1991-1992 with great effort and financial cost, rapid and vigorous infection control approaches have been taken whenever MRSA has been encountered in any hospital in southwestern Finland.