5 years of experience implementing a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus search and destroy policy at the largest university medical center in the Netherlands.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a rigorous search and destroy policy for controlling methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection or colonization.

Design: Hospital-based observational follow-up study.

Setting: Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, a 1,200-bed tertiary care center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.