Epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus in neonates on admission to a Chinese neonatal intensive care unit.

S. aureus colonization was common in infants admitted to our NICU and two community-associated clones predominated. Several non-modifiable risk factors for S. aureus colonization were identified. These results suggest that screening infants for S. aureus upon admission and targeting decolonization of high-risk infants and/or those colonized with high-risk clones could be useful to prevent transmission.