To the Editor: We report the appearance of erythromycin and inducible clindamycin resistance in the south-west Pacific strain of non-multiresistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which has recently appeared in eastern Australia. Infections occur predominantly in Polynesian people and are usually community-acquired. Most strains belong to Western Samoan phage patterns (WSPP1 or WSPP2) and pulsotype A when typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.1,2 These strains are resistant to all β-lactams, but are usually susceptible to erythromycin, clindamycin, gentamicin, tetracycline, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin. Although most of these antibiotics would not be recommended for therapy,3 clindamycin has been recommended for non-parenteral treatment of soft-tissue and bone infections, as it is efficacious in treating similar infections caused by methicillin-susceptible S. aureus.4
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Acknowledgement: We thank the Ipswich Hospital Foundation for financial support.