In order to determine the prevalence of methicillin (meticillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization among adults in community settings in Taiwan and identify its risk factors, we conducted the present study. For a 3-month period, we enrolled all adults who attended mandatory health examinations at three medical centers and signed the informed consent. Nasal swabs were taken for the isolation of S. aureus. For each MRSA isolate, we performed multilocus sequence typing, identification of the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec, tests for the presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene, and tests for drug susceptibilities. Risk factors for MRSA colonization were determined. The results indicated that the MRSA colonization rate among adults in the community settings in Taiwan was 3.8% (119/3,098). Most MRSA isolates belonged to sequence type 59 (84.0%). Independent risk factors for MRSA colonization included the presence of household members less than 7 years old (P < 0.0001) and the use of antibiotics within the past year (P ؍ 0.0031). Smoking appeared to be protective against MRSA colonization (P < 0.0001).Before the late 1990s, nearly all methicillin (meticillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections occurred in patients with specific risk factors who were in health care facilities (31). However, the emergence of MRSA infections among previously healthy persons in community settings (without exposure to health care facilities) was noted thereafter (6, 31). Therefore, MRSA infections are now classified as health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections and community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections (38).Strains responsible for CA-MRSA infections differ from those for HA-MRSA infections in several phenotypic and genetic features (1, 28). CA-MRSA strains carry type IV or V staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements, are usually Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) producing, and are not multidrug resistant; HA-MRSA strains carry type I, II, or III SCCmec elements, are usually not PVL producing, and are multidrug resistant (15,22,28).Initially, CA-MRSA infections were mostly reported in young children (36). However, as CA-MRSA infections became more common, infections were reported among people of all ages and contributed to the increase of communityassociated S. aureus infections with significance (25,29,36). MRSA colonization is an important risk factor for subsequent MRSA infection (30), so several studies in the United States have characterized the MRSA colonization rate in a community setting (13,16). These studies demonstrated that the nasal colonization rates among healthy children increased from In Taiwan, MRSA strains of sequence type 59 (ST59), determined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and carrying type IV or V SCCmec elements, were recently found to be the major strains of CA-MRSA (5, 7, 27). Other studies demonstrated that these CA-MRSA strains were responsible for the rapid increase in the number of CA-MRSA infections among children and adults ...