A ten-year study of staphylococcal disease. Surveillance, control, and prevention of hospital infections, 1956 to 1965.

This report summarizes the surveillance, control, and prevention of hospital-related staphylococcal disease at a large US metropolitan medical center during the years 1956–1965. It documents the longest recorded continuous survey in this field of epidemiological investigation. During the 10-year period of scrutiny, over 3,800 patients with various types of staphylococcal infection were studied and classified by members of the Hospital Infections Committee. These included medical, surgical, newborn, and post-partum patients. A decline in nosocomial infections was especially apparent during the last three years of this decade. Clinical and microbiological data are presented and observations made concerning the natural history of staphylococcal disease.