A Survey of Staphylococcus aureus Nosocomial Infection among Hospitalized Patients in a Medical Center

K.S. Lin

1995 Vol.11 NO.12

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

Infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, particularly nosocomial infections have increased in number and seriousness in recent years. A survey of hospitalized patients in a single institution over the past ten years showed the proportion of Staphylococcus aureus to all other clinically-isolated bacteria had increase 6.9% in 1985 to 13.9% in 1994, or a 101% increase. The proportion of Staphylococcus aureus to all pathogenic bacteria of nosocomial infections had aslo increased from 9.8% to 16.7% in the same period, an increase of 70%. Of all types of nosocomial infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, skin infections and surgical site infections are most important. By location, this type of infection occurs more in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU); the Internal Medicine, Nursery and Surgical Departments. Staphylococcus aureus has been found so far to be more than 70% resistant to all kinds of antibiotics except vancomycin; its drug resistance to oxacillin in particular, has increased from 26% in 1985 to 81% in 1994. The survey also revealed that in the past four years, of all nosocomial infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, an average of 68% were caused by oxacillin-resistant strains. Because of its specific biological characteristics, its rapid development of resisance to antibiotics and its significant contribution to an increase in nosocomial infection in the past two years, it is imperative that nosocomial infection control be made a priority, and that all related personnel review existing nosocomial infection control measures and initiate more effective approaches to reduce this threat to a minimum.