Word: aureus
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Since 1975 there have been more than 400 reported cases of TSS, which is caused by the common Staphylococcus aureus bacterium and occurs primarily in menstruating women under 30. While fatalities have been few-only 40 have been recorded-the revelations about TSS disturbed tampon makers, who have built a market of 50 million regular users. First marketed in 1936 by Tampax, which had bought the patents for the product from the Colorado doctor who invented it, tampons are big business. All told, sanitary products account for roughly $800 million of the $10 billion spent each year on medical devices...
First identified in Colorado two years ago, TSS is caused by an agent of the common Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, often found in abscesses. Since January the U.S. Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has recorded 344 cases, including 28 deaths. All but 16 of the cases involved menstruating women, usually under 30 years old. Suspicions were directed toward Rely after a study of 42 TSS patients showed that the brand had been used by 71% of the women...
These natural transfers can be crucial to the survival of the bacterium. It is through new plasmids, for example, that bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus have become resistant to penicillin. The plasmid acquired by the staph bug contained a gene that directs the production of a penicillinase, an enzyme that cracks apart invading penicillin molecules, making them ineffective. Different plasmids, sometimes passed from one bacterium to another, can order up still another kind of chemical weapon, a so-called restriction enzyme, which can sever the DNA of an invading virus, say, at a predetermined point...
When scientists selected some bacteria for experimental exposure to moon soil brought back by Apollo astronauts, Staphylococcus aureus, Azobacter vinelandii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa seemed to be well-qualified choices. All three species are exceptionally tough. They thrive in and around man, displaying extraordinary ability at resisting his antibiotic weapons and adapting well to other environmental challenges. Thus, microbiologists at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center last week were still baffled by the fate of the hardy organisms. After only ten hours' exposure to lunar dust from the Sea of Tranquility, the bacteria had died...
...bacteria known as Staphyiococcus aureus are dreaded by doctors as a cause of dangerous and persistent infections in many parts of the body. Ironically, the kinds of "staph" commonly found in hospitals are the worst of all, because they have developed resistance to most of the antibiotics around them. They are spread, usually from wounds or boils, not only on patients' linen, but also on nurses' hands and surgeons' breath, and even through air ducts. Newborn babies, with practically no resistance, are especially susceptible. Some hospital nurseries have been decimated by staph epidemics...