Staphylococcus aureus colonization and potential infection represent a common clinical finding in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and may contribute to exacerbation of the disease. Atopic patients are commonly colonized with S. aureus on both lesional and non-lesional skin. Antibiotic treatment of clinically infected patients can often improve the bacterial infection as well as reduce the overall severity of AD. More recently, measures to reduce S. aureus colonization have been shown to decrease the clinical severity of Atopic Dermatitis in patients with clinical signs of secondary bacterial infection of the skin.