A strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), EMRSA-15, was isolated in both the Midlands and south-east of England. This strain could be distinguished from another, very similar strain, found in the north of England, by both conventional and molecular typing. Conventional typing allowed distinction between the Midlands and southern variants of EMRSA-15, while molecular typing (pulse-field gel electrophoresis) allowed recognition of local variants in the south. In this investigation conventional and molecular typing methods were complementary.