A patient suffering from burns was treated with gentamicin: subsequently, a 'methicillin-resistant' strain of Staphylococcus aureus (B27), was isolated which was highly resistant to this antibiotic and all other aminoglycosides. In all other respects this isolate resembled the gentamicin-sensitive 'methicillin-resistant' S. aureus prevalent on the Yorkshire Regional Burns Unit. Subsequently, fusidic acid treatment was substituted for gentamicin therapy, and a fusidic acid-resistant variant was isolated from the same patient. This article reports a preliminary characterization of these isolates.