Antimicrobial-Drug Resistance

Abstract

Since their discovery, antimicrobial drugs have proved remarkably effective for the control of bacterial infections. However, it was soon evident that bacterial pathogens were unlikely to surrender unconditionally, because some pathogens rapidly became resistant to many of the first effective drugs. For example, the development of resistance to penicillin in Staphylococcus aureus by the production of a β-lactamase quickly decreased the usefulness of penicillin for serious staphylococcal infections, especially among hospitalized patients, in whom resistant strains are frequently found before they spread to the community.¹ Initially, the problem of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial drugs was solved by the discovery of . . .