Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is an organism carried by 25-30 per cent of healthy people, but can also cause serious, often fatal, infections, particularly in hospitals. It remains a problem because of its ability to acquire resistance to antibiotics. Multiply-resistant strains have now emerged in many hospitals and some overseas strains have acquired resistance to all currently-available antibiotics. In the past, resistance to certain antibiotics was only a problem in hospitals, however strains with resistance to these antibiotics are increasingly being isolated in the community. Research is being conducted to determine the origin of these strains and to develop strategies to prevent their spread.