TABLE 1.

Detection of organisms by culture or PCR

Sample	Organism identified by standard culture (no. of samples)	No. of samples in which indicated organism detected by PCR
		MRSA	MSSA	No S. aureus
BC	MRSA (47)	46	1	0
	MSSA (21)	0	21	0
	No S. aureus (155)	0	0	155
WS	MRSA (106)	104	2	0
	MSSA (51)	3	47	1
	No S. aureus (164)	13	18	133
	No S. aureus after adjustment for prior antibiotics and no growth (141)a	4	4	133

^aSee text.