Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections (SAB also called S. aureus, or ‘golden staph’) associated with healthcare can be serious, particularly when they are resistant to common antimicrobials.

In 2017–18, all states and territories had public hospital SAB rates below the national benchmark of 2.0 cases per 10,000 patient days.

Between 2013–14 and 2015–16, the SAB rate decreased from 0.89 to 0.74 cases per 10,000 patient days. It has remained around this level since (0.76 in 2016–17 and 0.73 in 2017–18).

  • Cat. no: HSE 217
Findings from this report:

  • The national SAB rate in public hospitals for 2017–18 was 0.73 cases per 10,000 patient days

  • All jurisdictions had public hospital SAB rates below the national benchmark

  • 1,493 cases of SAB were reported in public hospitals in 2017–18, compared to 1,501 cases in 2016–17

  • 82% of SAB cases in 2017–18 were treatable with commonly used antimicrobials