MRSA-Superbug?


I'm sure you have heard alot on the news about the new "super bug"( here) . It is a drug resistant strain of Staph Aureus or a Staph infection. The bad thing about this one is that it's resistant to antibiotics. This really isn't new, it's been coming for some time now. There has been numerous reports of MRSA for years and we probably created it by our over use of antibiotics, in animal feeds, treating kids ear infections and allowing the over the counter sale of antibiotics to farmers and horse owners. Now we have a problem, it is quite likely that we will see more of these with other bacteria. The resistance can be transmitted between organisms via plasmids fro bacteriophages. These are viruses that attack bacteria and can transport the genetic component that is responsible for resistance.

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