Abstract

CASTELLANO GONZALEZ, Maribel J  and  PEROZO-MENA, Armindo J. Mechanisms of Resistance To β-Lactam Antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus. Kasmera [online]. 2010, vol.38, n.1, pp.18-35. ISSN 0075-5222.

S. aureus has shown a great power of adaptation to antimicrobial agents, acquiring, step-by-step, resistance to all available antibiotics for treatment of the infections it causes. S. aureus has three major mechanisms of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics: enzyme mediated (penicillinase or β-lactamase) by which the antibiotic is inactivated; intrinsic resistance, which is not due to drug inactivation and accounts for methicillin resistance; and modifications of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). Additionally, S. aureus can express the tolerance phenomenon, in which there is a dissociation of the inhibitory and killing actions of â-lactam antibiotics. Of these, the most important mechanism is intrinsic resistance, which is probably more complex because several factors can affect its expression.

Keywords : Staphylococcus aureus; -lactam antibiotics; resistance mechanisms.

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