A Natural Reservoir of Penicillin-Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

THE story of the increasing incidence of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococci in such man-made selective environments as the hospital ward has been well documented. Similar processes are infrequently encountered in the soil or in other natural situations, and it is rare that antibiotic production can be shown to have ecological significance in a natural environment1. In the course of investigations into the microbial flora of the hedgehog, a naturally occurring biocenose which appears to be selective for penicillin-resistant Staphylococci, has been uncovered.