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New Insights on the Genetic Basis for Resistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Charles W. Stratton
Charles W. Stratton*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
*
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-2561
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Extract

One of the more important aspects of nosocomial infections is that they often are caused by bacterial strains resistant to many antimicrobial agents. Despite over 50 years in the development and use of a wide variety of antibiotics, bacterial resistance mechanisms have not been defeated and are playing an increasingly important role in the therapy of infections.

The mechanisms of bacterial resistance, moreover, are constantly changing, but our understanding of these resistance mechanisms at a molecular level is rapidly increasing.” Yet importantly, a detailed knowledge and understanding of the genetic basis for bacterial resistance is of great importance for the proper evaluation and control of nosocomial infections caused by resistant pathogens. The purpose of this discussion is to provide insights into the genetic basis for bacterial resistance and to describe some newer mechanisms of bacterial resistance that influence the therapeutic approach to nosocomial infections.

Type
Special Sections
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 10 , Issue 8 , August 1989 , pp. 371 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1989

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