S6 • E8 Jun 14, 2006 26m
For the past 60 years, antibiotics have rescued countless lives from potentially deadly bacterial infections -- but the germs are learning to fight back. Infections that don't respond to traditional antibiotics are on the rise across the country. One of the most common of these mutant pathogens is known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA. Unlike common staph infections, MRSA cannot be treated with methicillin, amoxicillin or many related antibiotics. MRSA can strike anyone, although hospital patients are the most vulnerable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in intensive care units, 65 percent of all staph infections are now caused by MRSA. While researchers scramble to create new antibiotics, experts are stressing steps to prevent MRSA from spreading -- in both hospitals and communities nationwide.
