Antibiotic Resistance: The Case of MRSA - Essay Example

In 1941, the antibiotic agent Penicillin G was found to be effective against almost all strains of Staphylococcus aureus but by 1944 the bacterium had begun to develop resistance to the penicillin, and nowadays more than 95% of the strains are resistant to penicillin (Neu, 1992, 1064).

In response to the bacterium’s ability to mutate, scientists developed large numbers of different antibiotics, including semisynthetic variants of penicillin such as methicillin, in an attempt to keep ahead of the bacterium’s ability to develop resistance. In the 1950s some cases emerged in which the bacterium was resistant to even this antibiotic, giving rise to the name “Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus” or MRSA. One recent study found that a small number of Staphylococcus aureus genotypes have evolved out of epidemic strains of MRSA, and this explains why MRSA is now endemic in many hospitals and care homes (Enright et al., 2002). The consequence for human health is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to counter this bacterial infection in precisely these contexts.