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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffStaph bacteria are very adaptable, and some varieties have become resistant to one or more antibiotics. For example, fewer than 10 percent of today's staph infections can be cured with penicillin. Up to half of the staph bacteria found in hospitals are resistant to methicillin, another common antibiotic.
When staph bacteria become resistant to methicillin, they also become resistant to a number of other common antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has led to the use of stronger and more toxic antibiotics, such as vancomycin, but some strains of staph bacteria have become resistant to vancomycin, too.
Your doctor may want to identify what type of staph bacteria is behind your infection, to help choose the antibiotic that will work best.
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- Endocarditis. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/endo/endo_all.html. Accessed April 6, 2009.
- Staphylococcus aureus: Pathogenicity. In: Cohen J, et al. Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2004. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/130084916-6/826085114/1209/650.html. Accessed April 6, 2009.
- Archer GL. Staphylococcal infections. In: Goldman L. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/130655031-2/826443940/1492/1112.html#4-u1. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Baddour LM. Cellulitis and erysipelas. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Staphylococcal food poisoning. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/staphylococcus_food_g.htm. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Fowler VC, et al. Complications of staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Kirkland EB, et al. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and athletes. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2008;59:494.
- Young LS. Sepsis and septic shock. Merck Manual Home Edition. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec17/ch191/ch191c.html. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Staphylococcus aureus (SA): Antibiotic resistance (general). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/diseases/activities/activity5_vrsa-database.htm. Accessed April 9, 2009.
- Community-associated MRSA information for the public. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nciod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html. Accessed April 9, 2009.
