Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus emerged long before the introduction of methicillin into clinical practice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The spread of drug-resistant bacterial pathogens poses a major threat to global health. It is widely recognised that the widespread use of antibiotics has generated selective pressures that have driven the emergence of resistant strains. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first observed in 1960, less than one year after the introduction of this second generation beta-lactam antibiotic into clinical practice. Epidemiological evidence has always suggested that resistance arose around this period, when the mecA gene encoding methicillin resistance carried on an SCCmec element, was horizontally transferred to an intrinsically sensitive strain of S. aureus.

Results

Whole genome sequencing a collection of the first MRSA isolates allows us to reconstr

SUBMITTER: Harkins CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5517843 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature