The Impact of Emerging Health Issues Methicillin Resistant Essay

The Impact of Emerging Health Issues Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-ResistantEnterococcus (VRE) - Essay Example Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterecoccus (VRE) represent two of the epidemiologically significant pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics, which are responsible for hospital-acquired infections. The reason for their importance is because infections due to these pathogens are responsible for significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates, and hospital costs than infections caused by susceptible organisms of the same species. In addition to this are the rapidly rising rates of infection from these antibiotic resistant pathogens in the past two decades. In current times nearly half of the nosocomial Staphylococcus aureus infections are due to MRSA, and almost a fourth of all nosocomial Enterecoccus infections are due to VRE. This makes these two antibiotic resistant pathogens significant to the healthcare sector (Salgado & Farr, 2003). Staphylococcus aureus is an aerobic, non-motile, gram-positive bacterium. According to Bloch, 2001, â€Å"Staphylococcus aureus colonizes the human skin, vagina, nasopharynx, and gastrointestinal tract†. It is estimated that ten to thirty-five percent of all healthy adults have transient or persistent nasopharyngeal colonization of S aureus, and this percentage is one the higher side among individuals working in the healthcare sector due to handling of colonized patients. S aureus has intrinsic properties that enable it to inhibit host immune defenses and render the penicillin and penicillin-derived group of antibiotics ineffective. Thus inactivation of the penicillin and penicillin derived group of antibiotics is the result of the enzyme beta-lactamase produced by S aureus. More than seventy percent of the S aureus strains are known to be capable of producing beta-lactamase. These strains are collectively known as Methicillin-resistant