Definitions on Antibiotic resistance starting with S

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Health

Definitions

A directory of terms related to antibiotic treatment, useful for discussing the development of antibiotic resistance. (Sources: Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, Union of Concerned Scientists, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

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S

Selective pressure

The influence exerted by some factor (such as an antibiotic) on natural selection to promote one group of organisms over another. In the case of antibiotic resistance, antibiotics cause a selective pressure by killing susceptible bacteria, allowing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to survive and multiply.

Subtherapeutics

Drugs used at levels that are too low to be effective in controlling disease; antibiotics are commonly used in subtherapeutic doses for promoting the growth of food animals, such as cows.

Superbug

Some bacterial strains have become resistant to so many antibiotics that they are sometimes referred to as 'superbugs' or 'supergerms.' Examples of superbugs are Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to methicillin and vancomycin, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (a cause of many lung and burn infections), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE, which can cause an infection in the digestive system), and multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacteria that causes tuberculosis). Some of these strains resist all known antibiotics — more than 100 different drugs.