Methicillin-Resistant<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>*

Abstract

THE number of patients with infections caused by methicillin-resistant, coagulase-positive strains of Staphylococcus aureus in Europe has increased,1 2 3 and the recent detection of similar strains in Seattle,4 , 5 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Houston, Texas, and New York City indicates that such resistant strains may become as prevalent in this country as they are elsewhere. These strains are usually resistant to penicillin, methicillin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline and kanamycin, and patients infected often die in spite of antibiotic treatment.3 Bulger,5 who found in vitro synergism by kanamycin and cephalothin against 9 strains of Staph. aureus that were resistant to methicillin, . . .