Suppression of nasal, skin, and aerial staphylococci by nasal application of methicillin.

Untreated heavy nasal carriers of staphylococci have been reported to have staphylococci on their skin more frequently and to disseminate staphylococci in the air in larger numbers than either noncarriers or carriers of smaller numbers of these bacteria (1). If the nose is the main source of skin and aerial staphylococci, suppression of nasal staphylococci should be followed by a reduction in both aerial dissemination and skin carriage. Of the presently available systemically administered antibiotics, only methicillin (dimethoxyphenyl penicillin) has been reported to eradicate staphylococci from nasal carriers without overt staphylococcal infections at other sites in hospitals where a large proportion of these organisms is multiple-drug-resistant (2-6). However, other investigators have reported that nasal staphylococci are eradicated less frequently and less rapidly from patients receiving methicillin for staphylococcal infections at other sites (7-9). In the present study nasal treatment with methicillin not only suppressed nasal staphylococci but also decreased aerial dissemination of these organisms and markedly reduced skin carriage of staphylococci. Both before and after treatment, the frequency of positive skin cultures and aerial dissemination of staphylococci was proportional to the number of nasal staphylococci isolated at the time cultures were obtained.