Staphylococcus aureus has been a problem for both well and sick neonates for decades. As early as 1937, guidance for proper skin care of newborns was given to prevent staphylococcal infection.1 The first description of a penicillin-resistant S. aureus outbreak in the newborn nursery was in 1952,2 when aureomycin, the first of the tetracyclines, was used for the treatment of pustular dermatitis, conjunctivitis and pneumonia. However, prevention of these outbreaks has proven to be very difficult. In the early 1960s, artificial colonization was employed, whereby infants were purposely colonized with less virulent S. aureus to prevent colonization with the more virulent strains.3 Constantly evolving, hospital-associated (HA) methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) emerged in the 1970s in adult intensive care units, and gradually infiltrated the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, community-associated (CA) MRSA spread across the globe in the 1990s, causing necrotizing soft tissue and bone infections in people of all ages and affecting neonates colonized from mothers or nursery environment. Over the past several decades, infection control policies have been developed to combat S. aureus, including decolonization strategies, hand hygiene, surveillance and isolation procedures. However, despite many years of devising plans against S. aureus, the NICU remains a haven for this formidable pathogen.