A resistant culture - ?superbugs? in Australian hospitals

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is not new in Australian hospitals. In 1946, shortly after penicillin became available for treatment of civilians, a penicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain caused ~50% of staphylococcal surgical wound infections at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH), in Sydney. During the 1950s, another virulent penicillin resistant S. aureus strain (phage type 80/81) emerged in neonatal units in Sydney and spread to other hospitals in Australia and overseas, to the families of affected infants and to the general community, causing serious soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, pneumonia and septicaemia.