The Super Bug

The Super Bug has become a recent topic of discussion among doctors and medical experts in hospitals across the nation. Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) is an infection that is typically found in hospital patients, although it can occasionally occur in otherwise healthy individuals.

While the infection is typically not deadly, it causes thousands of patients to have extended hospital stays, which decreases patient flow, and drives up patient bills. The problem with VRE is that it is resistant to most antibiotics, with the sole exception being Daptomycin, which is a toxic substance that can cause as much harm to the patient as good.

Scientists are now looking at how VRE mutates when it is exposed to Daptomycin, hoping that they might learn how these gene mutations change cellular function within the VRE microbe.