Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 500 beds) and 15/31 smaller hospitals ( < 500 beds) answered the survey. (A second random sample survey of non-respondent hospitals (n = 5) produced very similar results to those seen in the initial survey.) All large hospitals reported outbreaks of MRSA nosocomial infections (average 8.0 ± 5.9 new cases/month) with multiply-resistant strains. Only four of the smaller hospitals reported MRSA infections (average 1.0 new cases/month). The main infection control procedures were active search for carriers (100%), special isolation wards (66%), nasal decolonization of health-care workers (88%, using mupirocin in 66% of cases), and stating of MRSA condition in the discharge report (100%). The control procedures currently recommended for MRSA infections are widely accepted and followed, but appear to be only partially successful in the long term