Word: staphylococcus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Staphylococcus aureus is a dreadful pathogen that invades the body of certain patients after surgery. It most frequently attacks people with weak immune systems, namely infants and the elderly. Intravenous drug users can also be susceptible to community-acquired staphylococcus aureus...
...Staphylococcus aureus, an "elite force" in the bacteria battalion, is an adaptable organism that has always developed antibiotic resistance with haste. For example, staphylococcus aureus becomes resistant to erythromycin, a protein inhibitor, after only seven to ten days. Resistance to penicillin developed a few years after its commercial production in 1941, and resistance to four or more antibiotics became the norm for 40 percent of the strains by the end of the 1950s...
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...