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Article: When drugs don't kill 'bugs': strategies for preventing the spread of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Feature Article).
- Article from:
- Nursing Homes
- Article date:
- May 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Vendome Group LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When Sir Alexander Fleming observed in 1928 that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, a new age was about to dawn--an age in which physicians would finally have effective weapons to use in their fight against infectious diseases. Many wounded and sick soldiers' lives were saved during World War II by penicillin, the antibiotic that was developed in 1941 from Fleming's discovery. Baby boomers and their parents have been routinely treated with this "miracle drug" ever since--and with the other antibiotics that followed.
We've all heard that too much of a good thing is not really so good. Over the last ...