MRSA, as it is known for short, has been present in hospitals since 1961. It is resistant not only to methicillin but to all of the antibiotics commonly deployed by modern medicine bar one (vancomycin).
SCAN is also concerned about the development of vancomycin resistance amongst enterococci and methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, which are increasingly responsible for nosocomial infections, particularly in the United States and southern Europe. That could make it necessary to use streptogramins as therapeutic agents of last resort to treat germs which have developed resistance to other antibiotics.
