Flesh-Eating Bacteria's Rise Tied to Antibiotic Cream

Flesh-Eating Bacteria's Rise Tied to Antibiotic Cream - Yahoo! News:

'via Blog this'

After getting a cut, many Americans will reach for a tube of over-the-counter antibiotic cream to ward off infection. But that widespread habit, a new paper suggests, may be contributing to the rise of one of the most concerning strains of drug-resistant bacteria.

Japanese researchers looked at 261 samples of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), including 21 samples of the USA300 strain, a type of MRSA that has gained attention for its spread, its frequent presence in the community as well as the hospital, and its link to necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease.

They found that while other MRSA strains were somewhat susceptible to some combination of the antibiotics bacitracin and neomycin — which are typically found in over-the-counter creams — only the USA300 strains were resistant to both. The authors said this may mean that overexposure to those antibiotics is what led to USA300's resistance.