摘要：Antibiotic options for patients with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections areseverely limited. Unfortunately, infections with S. aureus with reduced susceptibility tovancomycin and teicoplanin have been recently reported for the first time. Commonly usedlaboratory methods for determining antibiotic susceptibility may be inadequate for detectingreduced susceptibility to vancomycin. Even though no confirmed cases have yet been detected inAustralia, a high index of suspicion must be maintained for the occurrence of such organisms.Strategies for prevention of the spread of S. aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycinshould be prepared by Australian hospitals prior to their first cases being identified. This articleoutlines the background to this developing issue and discusses laboratory methods and findings,with some current recommendations for diagnostic laboratories
