Genotypic similarities among the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from stools, the respiratory tract and other sites in 20 patients

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is occasionally recovered from stools of patients. Several previous reports indicate that MRSA is frequently recovered from the upper respiratory tract of patients with MRSA enterocolitis. Thus, MRSA in the respiratory tract may be the source of MRSA in stool. To clarify whether MRSA in the respiratory tract is indistinguishable from the MRSA isolated from stool, we analysed MRSA isolates from stool and respiratory tract specimens from individual patients using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).