Development of Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics

Miller discusses the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics which is a phenomenon of great theoretic interest to the bacteriologist, and it may some day become a matter of major concern to the clinician. He states that one must bear in mind that susceptibility and resistance are relative terms. As customarily used, the term resistant is applied to a micro-organism when it requires more antibiotic to prevent its multiplication than most other strains of the same bacterial species. In the case of penicillin, fortunately, few strains of the susceptible bacteria are resistant to concentrations ordinarily attainable in the blood of man. Some strains of staphylococci are comparatively resistant and a few are highly resistant.