This study was undertaken to find two things. One was to reveal the infection route of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) that causes serious nosocomial infection through epidemic study, and the other was to seek preventative methods through blocking the dispersion.

We cultured MRSA obtained by nasal cavity swabbing, from 82 doctors and 219 personnel in our hospital, between September 1997 and August 1999. In addition, swabs were taken from the nasal cavities and surgical sites of 57 orthopaedic surgery patients, who were free of wound infection. In this practice, we use the disc test for drug sensitivity, and pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to separate colonies.

MRSA was discovered in 8 doctors (10%) and in 13 personnels (6%) by nasal cavity sabbing, and these included 3 orthopaedic surgeons. MRSA was also found in the patients' group, there were 23 (40%) from nasal cavities and 14 ones (25%) from surgical sites. Their PFGE types of MRSA were of A type, which were also identified in two orthopaedic surgeons.

We noticed that nasal cavitiy infection could occur by cross infection between doctors and patients. Surgical wound infection may occur by infection from the nasal cavity. This study underlines the importance of MRSA infection and management.