We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Emergence and resurgence of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a public-health threat.
- Authors
Grundmann, Hajo; Aires-de-Sousa, Marta; Boyce, John; Tiemersma, Edine
- Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive bacterium that colonises the skin and is present in the anterior nares in about 25-30% of healthy people. Dependent on its intrinsic virulence or the ability of the host to contain its opportunistic behaviour, S aureus can cause a range of diseases in man. The bacterium readily acquires resistance against all classes of antibiotics by one of two distinct mechanisms: mutation of an existing bacterial gene or horizontal transfer of a resistance gene from another bacterium. Several mobile genetic elements carrying exogenous antibiotic resistance genes might mediate resistance acquisition. Of all the resistance traits S aureus has acquired since the introduction of antimicrobial chemotherapy in the 1930s, meticillin resistance is clinically the most important, since a single genetic element confers resistance to the most commonly prescribed class of antimicrobials--the beta-lactam antibiotics, which include penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems.
- Publication
Lancet (London, England), 2006, Vol 368, Issue 9538, p874
- ISSN
1474-547X
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68853-3