Eli N. Perencevich, MD, MS; Daniel J. Diekema, MD. JAMA. 2010;304(6):687-689. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.1125
Staphylococcus aureus, unlike many virulent pathogens, is a common commensal asymptomatically colonizing the nares1 and other body sites in approximately 30% of healthy individuals.
The remarkable success of S aureus as a human pathogen is due in large part to its ability to develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. Although it might appear that the increasing prevalence of resistant S aureus, particularly methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA), has been continuous and uninterrupted, understanding the evolution of S aureus resistance is helpful for interpretation of data on recent trends in invasive MRSA infection, such as those reported by Kallen and colleagues2 in this issue of JAMA.
Antibiotic-susceptible S aureus of the preantibiotic era has given way to waves of antibiotic-resistant strains that have emerged over the past 60 years.3 During the mid-1940s the proportion of infections caused by penicillin-resistant S aureus . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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