Word: aureus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...probably caused by the overuse of the wonder drug. According to figures released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 200 people in Minnesota and North Dakota have become ill - and four have died - after contracting a lethal strain of the staph germ known as staphylococcus aureus. Most disturbingly, the mutated germ apparently came not from the hothouse environment of hospitals - where it is common but considered manageable - but from somewhere outside...
...that would require cleaning my apartment. But once I found out about these easy-to-use antibacterial products (soap, Purell, body lotion, sponge, detergent, telephone swabs), I became obsessed. It reached its climax last month when I heard about the Killer Germ. The germ, a new strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria immune to antibiotics, had killed a middle-aged woman in Hong Kong. Normally, I wouldn't be afraid of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria because I don't know what it is. But Killer Germ I understood...
Aditi Bagchi `99 says she learned all about this in Science B-55, "Evolutionary Biology." "The history of staphylococcus aureus demonstrates the need for cooperation between the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and the agricultural industries," she says. "Vancomycin is used in huge amounts in animals abroad. Therefore, it's not enough to regulate its use in the medical industry but in the agricultural one as well...
Despite the danger of antibiotics, however, few patients have heeded the warnings. When penicillin came out, it was hailed as the savior for staphylococcus aureus patients, and afflicted individuals today would like to believe the same about vancomycin...
However, doctors say patients underestimate how quickly the bacteria can spread. A study done by the New York City Health Department showed that 470 strains of methillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from around the world all descended from a single MRSA strain from Cairo, Egypt...