Figure 1

Percentage of positive cultures of skin, environment (bed rails and bedside table) and investigator's hands for Staphylococcus aureus among hospitalized patients with nares and stool colonization, nares colonization only, stool colonization only, or no S. aureus carriage. For purposes of analysis, patients with a positive nares or stool culture at any time during the study were considered to be positive at these sites. Investigator's hand cultures were obtained by placing a hand sequentially on the patient's skin, bed rail, and bedside table followed by imprinting onto a mannitol agar plate.