Strains of Staphylococcus aureus can be typed on the basis of the polymorphism of the coagulase gene. DNA fragments generated after amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the variable region of this gene and digested with the restriction enzyme HaeIII can be compared by their restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Seventy-nine of 86 (91.8%) methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains isolated in various hospitals had a characteristic RFLP pattern. This pattern differed from those of 32 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA). Only one MSSA shared with MRSA the same RFLP pattern. After modification, we applied this method to the rapid detection of MRSA from 255 nasal swabs from patients hospitalized in intensive care units. When screened by plating on Chapman agar, 55 of these samples contained MRSA, whereas 40/55 yielded the expected restriction profile after amplification by PCR. No DNA was amplified by PCR in 9/55 samples and restriction profiles were uninterpretable in six cases. When compared to culture, the positive and negative predictive values of the PCR test were 100% and 93%, respectively. The specificity was 100% and the sensitivity was 72.7%. Since control of spread of MRSA strains in hospitals is based in part on rapid isolation of carriers, this method which allows detection of epidemic MRSA in nasal swabs within a day could be helpful, though culture would still be necessary to confirm the result.