Antibiotics toward Gram Positive Cocci: Mode of Action, Resistance and Laboratory Diagnosis

Document from the year 2013 in the subject Biology - Micro- and Molecular Biology, , language: English, abstract: Antimicrobial resistance remains, more than ever, a key issue for medical microbiology. The development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria is an evolutionary inevitability, a convincing demonstration of their ability to adapt to adverse environmental conditions. Some Gram-positive organisms are extremely adaptable and rapidly develop resistance, whereas others have not developed good strategies to overcome antibiotics. Staphylococci and enterococci, in particular are associated with clinically relevant resistance. The epithet of superbugs, if one can define these as bacterial pathogens resistant to almost all clinically available agents, can be truly applied to resistant strains of Gram-positive species, especially to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and to glycopeptide- or vancomycinresistant enterococci (GRE or VRE).