Innocence and the staphylococcus.

Abstract

SummaryA bacteriological and clinical survey is described of infection due to Staphylococcus aureus in 8473 babies delivered over the period 1956 to 1959 in a 95 bed maternity hospital. The incidence of minor staphylococcal disease was 41% at the commencement of the survey, and was reduced to 7·9% with the institution of accepted means of control.A “carrier rate” of 90% of infants by the third and fourth days of life was present in 1957, and remained at this level in 1959 despite the reduction in the incidence of staphylococcal disease.“Rooming in” and its part in the control of staphylococcal disease in the new‐born are discussed.Despite the consistently high incidence of minor staphylococcal disease in the new‐born, the resultant morbidity in the first six months of life was low (0·3%) and the mortality less than 0·1%.The incidence of breast abscess in 7438 mothers was 1·3%.Phage pattern 80/81 and the question of “virulence” are discussed.It is stressed that much remains to be discovered with regard to the modes of transmission of the staphylococcus and the part played by factors other than those directly related to the organism.