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To address the impact and clinical relevance of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases sponsored a consensus conference concerning MRSA. In conjunction with a theme section in the February issue of the journal, the following reviews summarize the consensus of opinion on that occasion.Although national guidelines for the control of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the prevention of infections due to MRSA do exist, these are increasingly evidence-based and not all guidelines have as a foundation a rigourous assessment of the literature sufficient to lend authority to the recommendations. Well-designed studies concerning MRSA are few and consensus among experts becomes important in their absence. Although this expertise is based on clinical experience and must be regarded as such, the role of expert opinion remains especially important during the development of methods for rating the quality of evidence and assessing the validity of existing recommendations.