Volume 9, Number 2—February 2003 Elimination of Epidemic
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from a University
Hospital and District Institutions, Finland From August 1991 to
October 1992, two successive outbreaks of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occurred at a hospital in Finland.
During and after these outbreaks, MRSA was diagnosed in 202
persons in our medical district; >100 cases involved epidemic
MRSA. When control policies failed to stop the epidemic, more
aggressive measures were taken, including continuous staff
education, contact isolation for MRSA-positive patients,
systematic screening for persons exposed to MRSA, cohort nursing
of MRSA-positive and MRSA-exposed patients in epidemic
situations, and perception of the 30 medical institutions in
that district as one epidemiologic entity brought under
surveillance and control of the infection control team of Turku
University Hospital. Two major epidemic strains, as well as
eight additional strains, were eliminated; we were a