New Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

“Tu quoque, fili?” means “You, my son, as well?” This was Julius Caesar's outcry when, surrounded by conspirators ready to stab him to death, he discovered among them Brutus, his adopted son. Caesar's outcry was one of surprise, but also one of recognition that Brutus's betrayal could have been predicted. Vancomycin, now, as well? This was the semisurprised reaction of the microbiologic and medical community in 1997 — more than 50 years after the introduction of penicillin in the war against bacteria — to a well-documented report from Japan that vancomycin resistance was emerging as the latest setback . . .