Unlike animals that copulate combining DNA, bacteria are able to exchange genetic information between different species through several different biological processes, such as transformation and transduction. It is an evolutionary survival mechanism that has allowed bacteria to be one of the oldest and, by some standards, most successful forms of life on Earth.
Alexander
Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and the antibiotic began to be deployed on
a large scale to fight all types of bacterial infections in the 1940s.
However as is the trend, drug resistance became a problem with penicillin and
its related family in the late 1950s. Other antibiotics like erythromycin,
streptomycin, and tetracycline also failed to treat staph infections in those
years.
Methicillin was introduced in 1959 and initially it was successful in treating
penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. However in 1961, the
dreaded nightmare happened. THE BIRTH OF THE SUPER BACTERIA.
Two strains from a genesis organism forever linked to flesh bearing mammals immerge:
Staphylococcus aureus- a common bacteria that is present on the skin and in the nares of homo-sapiens (man). In nature competing and in fact controlling or defeating pestilent bacteria such as yeast. But in compromised immune systems due to viruses or other bacterial infections became (CA) community acquired Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus aka MSSA.
Nosocomial infections- a MSSA strain no longer sensitive to the "cillin" antibiotics having developed the ability to adapt certain host's fat proteins to bolster it's cell wall making it impervious to the known penicillin family of drugs. These infections are first detected in healthcare environments where large numbers of hosts make it easy for bacteria to exchange DNA, becoming more resistant to treatment and therefore more virulent. Also making the healthcare providers transport vessels as well as the infected.
Today there is a long lists of life threatening infections, as well as some 100 strains of MRSA.
Ventilator associated pneumonia
Staphylococcus aureus
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Acinetobacter baumannii
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
Clostridium difficile
Tuberculosis
Urinary tract infection
Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP)
Gastroenteritis
Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus
Legionella
Now MRSA has crossed the healthcare boundary and is communicable.