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Medical ProgressFree PreviewArchive

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

List of authors.
  • William Brumfitt, M.D., Ph.D.,
  • and Jeremy Hamilton-Miller, Ph.D., D.Sc.

STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS is one of the most versatile human pathogens. In the late 1930s, sulfonamides offered the first challenge to S. aureus, but they failed because of their poor clinical performance in the presence of pus and the acquisition of resistance by the bacteria.1 In the early 1940s the introduction of benzylpenicillin (penicillin G) temporarily solved the problem of staphylococcal infections, but the continued use of this agent caused the selection of resistant strains, which produced penicillinase (β-lactamase). By 1948 the prevalence of resistant strains had seriously reduced the value of benzylpenicillin.2 By the end of the 1950s, S. . . .

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Medical Microbiology, Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, Pond St., Hampstead, London NW3 2QG, England, where reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. Brumfitt.

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