A Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidisClone (ST2) Is an Ongoing Cause of Hospital-Acquired Infection in a Western Australian Hospital

ABSTRACTWe report the molecular epidemiology of 27 clinical multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis(MDRSE) isolates collected between 2003 and 2007 in an Australian teaching hospital. The dominant genotype (sequence type 2 [ST2]) accounted for 85% of the isolates tested and was indistinguishable from an MDRSE genotype identified in European hospitals, which may indicate that highly adaptable health care-associated genotypes of S. epidermidishave emerged and disseminated worldwide in the health care setting.