Casewell and Hill

1985 in vitro activity of mupirocin
Casewell and Hill demonstrated in vitro activity of  mupirocin against  S. aureus  and MRSA.

1986 Review
In 1986, Casewell and Hill published a review in JAC on "The carrier state: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus". This review looks at studies from the 1960s (before the introduction of  beta-lactamase stable penicillins); Casewell and Hill proposed that these older studies represent strains of S. aureus that are similar to outbreak producing MRSA strains seen in the 1980s.

They note that MRSA, unlike MSSA, produces outbreaks that are difficult to manage (although there wasn't a lot of evidence of this). They think it is possible that MRSA strains possess some additional characteristics that increase their transmissibility; for example, "more consistent survival on glass" had been described by Lacey & Grinstead in 1973.

​1986 RCT
In 1986, Casewell and Hill published an RCT in JAC on "Elimination of nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus with mupirocin ('pseudomonic acid') - a controlled trial". This RCT reported on time course of decolonization.

The trial: