The Genesis and Spread of a Hospital Staphylococcal Epidemic on an Adult Medical Ward

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Abstract
THE current epidemiology of hospital staphylococcal infection deals primarily with outbreaks in pediatric, maternity and surgical units.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 These outbreaks, as shown by bacteriophage typing, are usually due to antibiotic-resistant Type "80/81" strains of staphylococci. Many modes of epidemic spread have been described, but most attention has been given to contaminated fomites and nasal carriers. Recent reports by Barber and Dutton9 and Caswell et al.10 have shown that severe epidemics can occur on adult medical wards, through patient crossinfection. The following study describes an outbreak of 63 infections caused by a single strain of a coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus originating on the . . .