History of Antibiotics - Staphylococcus aureus


History of Antibiotics - Staphylococcus aureus



from page 52 and 53 of the October 2005 issue of Wired.

The table below shows the timeline for the infectious disease, Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotics that were developed to treat it, and the eventual evolution of resistant strains that rendered the antibiotics ineffective.

Staphylococcus aureus
S. aureus causes skin infections, toxic shock syndrome, and a host of other staph infections. More than half of all staph infections found in intensive care units are drug-resistant.

See also Streptococcus pneumoniae


S. pneumoniae causes a range of illnesses including strep throat, flesh-eating bacteria, and pneumonia that requires hospitalization.

See also Escherichia coli
Dangerous forms of E. coli cause GI distress to meningitis. In June 2005, the FDA approved tigecycline, a new type of antibiotic designed to fight resistant E. coli.

The following are three ways bacteria evolve to become resistant to antibiotics.

Camouflage
A bacteria's protein receptors morph so that the antibiotic cannot lock onto them and kill them. Staph evolved in this way to resist penicillin.

Roadblocks<
The bacteria's cell membrane changes to keep the antibiotic out. Bacteria such as staph and strep evolved in this way to defeat tetracyclines.

Disarmament
A bacteria produces enzymes that turn off the active part of the antibiotic. Using this method, E. coli resisted cephalosporins.

Year/

Staphylococcus aureus/

Antibiotic
1942 Penicillin
1944 Streptomycin

1947 Staph resists penicillin Chloramphenical
1948 Tetracycline
1952 Erythromycin
1955 Lincomycin
1959
1960 Methicillin

1961 Staph resists methicillin Ampicilin
1963
1964 Cephalosporin and Vancomycin
1965
1970
1977 Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
1978
1986 Fluoroquinolone
1987 Ciprofloxacin
1988
1994
1996 Levofloxacin

1997 Staph resists vancomycin
1999
2000 Linezolid

2001 Staph resists linezolid
2002
2005 Tigecycline