Staphylococcus Aureus Part 5

In the 1950’s when the antibiotic Penicillin was invented, doctors began using antibiotics in excess to heal and treat every bacterial infection, necessary or not. This had serious adverse results. By the 1980’s doctors need to move to stronger antibiotics and the trend of over using antibiotics to treat infections continued until the bacteria become resistant again. After several decades, there are few new stronger antibiotics to be developed, and the world needs to redefine the rules of antibiotic treatments if any improvement is going to be made. Our future is in the research of prevention and complete elimination of the problem.

Researchers are currently examining the complete genomes of known strains of Staph bacteria and other well known bacteria that cause infections. This research will and has already allowed scientists to find specific sequences of code that are reoccurring in all of the strains, as is explained in the article Whole genome sequencing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. By doing this, scientists can narrow in on the specific section of coding in the MRSA strain that makes it so exceptionally resistant. If this is successful, we can find ways to eliminate the bacteria in new ways. Other research has been done that has shown recently that the use of manmade viruses can be used to remove the bacteria infecting patients, and further research is being done currently. If scientists can create Bacteriophages (bacteria-infecting viruses) that successfully remove all of the bacteria in a human and do nothing more, then the entire way infections are treated would be revolutionized.