Staphylococcus Aureus ( Mrsa )

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly, MRSA, is an emerging infectious disease affecting many people worldwide. MRSA, in particular, is a very interesting disease because although many people can be carriers of it, it generally only affects those with a depressed immune system; this is why it is so prevalent in places like nursing homes and hospitals. It can be spread though surgeries, artificial joints, tubing, and skin-to-skin contact. Although there is not one specific treatment of this disease, there are ways to test what antibiotics work best and sometimes antibiotics aren’t even necessary.

The antibiotics will have different zones of inhibition on different bacteria. Also, a range of concentrations of the nutrients in the bacteria will change the bacterial growth.

E.coli outbreaks have steadily grown over the last few decades. An expansion in big farming has led to E. coli not only being found in meat, but vegetation as well, due to waste runoff. This has increased our need for adequate antibiotics that can fight bacteria, like E. coli. The best way to pinpoint which antibiotics work is by measuring their ability to create antimicrobial agents or zones of inhibition. When a paper disc that has been saturated in an antibiotic is inserted in a solution of E.coli and medium, the zone of inhibition will be noted as the clear ring that forms around the disk. The antibiotics efficacy is then determined by measuring each disk zone of inhibition, and comparing these measurements to the zone measurements of an untreated specimen. If an antibiotic is to be deemed sufficient for treating E. coli it should show a zone of inhibition that is at least double the size of the untreated specimen.

Cultures are an effective way of guiding the Infectious Disease specialist to which antibiotics that are to be used to treat the patient with MRSA by looking at the type of strain that the patient has. The culture can also be tested for susceptibility to a variety of antibiotics. Surgery may be required to debride and drain the pus filled skin from the infected area, while antibiotics, such as vancomycin, linezolid, daptomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, clindomycin (as well as many other sulfa drugs and tetracyclines) could be prescribed to help eradicate the infection. Some antibiotics that are used to treat MRSA are only available intravenously. Unfortunately, some high-powered antibiotics are developing resistance to MRSA infections. Because of this, Vancomycin is no longer a sure treatment for MRSA due to questions surrounding its effectiveness. Patients that are prescribed antibiotics should never stop taking their antibiotics, even if they are starting to feel better. These infections are extremely dormant and are prone to reoccur if they develop resistance to the

In conclusion, the importance of control and prevention in the spread of MRSA cannot be emphasised enough. MRSA clearly

MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) is one of the most recent superbugs to become a health problem. MRSA is a species of Staphylococcus Aureus that is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin and antibiotics like it. Doctors are struggling to find proper treatment because of its resistance to the beta-lactam ring, the core of most antibiotics. The most lethal strain is the CC398 strain, most commonly found on livestock. There are approximately 80,000 invasive MRSA infections and 11,000 deaths every year. (CNN.com)

The problem that this experiment is trying to solve is whether or not Staphylococcus epidermidis is resistant or susceptible to various antibiotics. The independent variable for the experiment is the type of antibiotic being used against the bacteria(Ampicillin, Streptomycin, Penicillin, and Tetracycline). The

Staphylococcus aureus, a microorganism, is the leading cause of today’s infection in the hospital setting in the US. The optimal growth conditions consist of moist, warm, dark environments. On humans, it is usually found in the nares, groin, and axilla. In 1941, the antibiotic penicillin was discovered and was used to treat S. aureus infections. This

This experiment was conducted to first, determine if Staphylococcus is present in the nose cavity. Staphylococcus is very common in in the nasal cavities and therefor its highly likely that some type of Staphylococcus will be detected. In order to detect the presence of Staphylococcus a nose swab will be taken and incubated at 37.0˚C for 48hrs in a (m-G+C) broth. This broth has a 10% salt concentration and as Staphylococcus is a halophile and requires salt to flourish, the salt concentration in this broth will help to enable an ideal environment for the Staphylococcus. After the 48hrs a Mannitol Salt agar plate will be inoculated by the swab and then incubated for at the same temperature and length of time as before. The MSA plate, which contains sugars and salts will

One person each in a team of four heavily inoculated two Mueller-Hinton agar plates with one of the cultures listed by aseptic transfer from a broth culture using a sterile cotton swab. Each plate was marked off into four segments, a total of eight sectors. One McFarland standard disk containing one of the eight antibiotics tested was placed, using

This paper explores the study of an unknown bacterial culture. The bacterium were randomly assigned in a double blinded fashion to alleviate scientific or experimental error in determining their gram stain, morphology, arrangement, and scientific classification. There were eight unknown bacterial cultures given, with the unknown bacterial culture being one of the eight bacterial cultures. A myriad of tests and experiments were performed on the unknown bacteria in order to be able to properly classify it. One of the first experiments that was performed was the gram stain. It was determined to be gram positive. The arrangement of the unknown bacteria was also noted on the gram positive slide. The slide showed grape like

When penicillin was released to the public in 1944, it was a miracle drug. Infections that had been killers were suddenly treatable. Doctors recommended it generously, both for illnesses that needed it and illnesses that didn’t. Before long, however, it took much stronger doses to see penicillin’s effects. When the antibiotic arms race began in 1944, most physicians assumed that new antibiotics would be discovered or created to keep up with the evolving resistance in bacteria, but the bacteria are constantly evolving new defenses and doctors are starting to run low on antibiotic ammunition. MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is one of many types of bacteria

According to Orem (2001), nursing interventions include applying epidemiological techniques for identifying populations at risk, obtaining public health experts to identify needed community programs,

Madeline was diagnosed with MRSA, a type of virulent pneumonia. She had no idea how she contracted this dangerous bacterium and her family decided to take tests that would reveal whether or not they spread it or if it was the hospital’s fault. This experiment was based off of the Kirby-Bauer disk method, where antibiotics are exposed to growing bacteria. If the bacteria stops growing, circular wafers where the bacteria have not grown would be visible and that means that the antibiotic worked. This particular area is known as the zone of inhibition and the size of it determines its effectiveness. Madeline should use vancomycin to treat her condition because it is the most effective. Based on the investigation, vancomycin was the most effective

Lastly, but most importantly, antibiotic misuse needs to be avoided because it can lead to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a bacterium’s ability to overcome the effects of antibiotics and to survive in the presence of them (“About” par. 1). This is what causes antibiotics to be ineffective towards some bacterial infections. When a bacteria is exposed to the same antibiotic regularly, that bacteria mutates to become antibiotic resistant. Bacteria have many mechanisms of resistance. For instance, bacteria can achieve resistance by changing the chemical structure of their cell walls, pumping the antibiotic out of their cell via pumps, and acquiring enzymes that inactivate antibiotics (Groopman 57). Since there are many ways