Livestock in the United States may be building resistance to deadly bacterial infections, and those superbugs may be easily transferrable to humans, according to a new study published in the journal, mBio. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to antibiotics used to treat staph infections. About two out of every 100 people carry... (read more)
New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices. Patients with implants can develop infections because of a biofilm of persistent bacterial bugs on the surfaces of their devices. Researchers found that s... (read more)
Staphylococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria. Under the microscope they appear round (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters.
The Staphylococcus genus includes at least forty species. Of these, nine have two subspecies and one has three subspecies. Most are harmless and reside normally on the skin and mucous membranes of humans and other organisms. Found worldwide, they are a small component of soil microbial flora.
Assignment of a strain to the genus Staphylococcus requires that it is a Gram-positive coccus that forms clusters, produces catalase, has an appropriate cell wall structure (including peptidoglycan type and teichoic acid presence) and G + C content of DNA in a range of 30-40 mol%.
Staphylococcus species can be differentiated from other aerobic and facultative anaerobic gram positive cocci by several simple tests. Staphylococcus spp. are facultative anaerobes (capable of growth both aerobically and anaerobically). All species grow in the presence of bile salts and all are catalase positive. Growth can also occur in a 6.5% NaCl solution. On Baird Parker Medium Staphylococcus spp. grow fermentatively, except for S. saprophyticus which grows oxidatively. Staphylococcus spp. are resistant to bacitracin (0.04 U disc: resistance =
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staphylococcus
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