115 children with burn injuries were admitted between April 1988 and February 1989. Samples were taken from burn wounds, anterior nares and hands of every patient: anterior nares and hands of family members within 24 hours after admission. Samples were also taken from anterior nares and hands of medical personnel, air of ward and taps etc. 276 strains of S. aureus were isolated from 1544 samples. The rate of burn wound infection due to S. aureus was 25.2% and nasal carrier rates of patients, family members, nurses, doctors were 30.4%, 18.1%, 27.3% and 18.3%, respectively. S. aureus with the same plasmid profiles (1.6 and 1.9 Md) and phage type (618) as those of the burn wounds was only isolated from the anterior nares and hands of the family members and not from the medical personnel. It indicated that the S. aureus of burn wound infection mainly came from the hands of their family members and not from the medical personnel. This may be due to that care of burn wound was mainly taken by the family members.