Household disinfectant potential cause of antibiotic resistance
Researchers from Midwestern University in Illinois, Curtin University of Technology in Australia, and Illinois State University have found that when bacteria become resistant to pine oil cleaners (POC), a common household disinfectant, they may also be resistant to some antibiotics. Their findings appear in the November 2002 issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
In the study, POC-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were found to also be resistant to the antibiotics, vancomycin and oxacillin. Further testing suggests that the same genetic mechanism may be responsible for both types of resistance.
“These results add to a growing body of reports suggesting that common disinfectants can select for bacteria with reduced susceptibilities to antibiotics,” say the researchers.
(C.T.D. Price, V.K. Singh, R.K. Jayaswal, B.J. Wilkinson, J.E. Gustafson. 2002. Pine oil cleaner-resistant staphylococcus aureus: reduced susceptibility to vancomycin and oxacillin and involvement of SigB. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 68. 11: 5417-5421.)
Media Contact
More Information:
http://www.asmusa.org/All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine
This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.
Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.
Newest articles
Bringing Quantum Mechanics to Life
New ISTA assistant professor Julian Léonard makes abstract quantum properties visible. From the realm of the abstract to the tangible, the new assistant professor at the Institute of Science and…
Who moved my atom?
Researchers at the Technion Faculty of Physics have demonstrated controlled transfer of atoms using coherent tunneling between “optical tweezers”. An experimental setup built at the Technion Faculty of Physics demonstrates…
A milestone for reproductive medicine
Producing viable eggs from undeveloped oocytes through In vitro technology. Researchers successfully produce viable, embryo-forming egg cells from underdeveloped oocytes extracted from ovarian follicles. Mature egg cells, or oocytes, are…