"Fastness" of Cocci to Penicillin

Dual Nature of Acid-Fastness **

Acid-fastness is usually defined by the Ziehl-Neelsen technique: staining in carbol-fuchsin, differentiation in HCl-alcohol, and counterstaining in methylene blue.8 As a result, acid-fast substances are red, non-acid-fast materials, blue. Some authors have felt that this property of differential staining resided in one specific type of compound, the mycolic acid type of long-chain fatty acid fo...

Approach to Penicillin Allergy – A Survey

Individual approaches to the diagnosis and management of penicillin allergy are practiced    by clinicians.   This cross-sectional survey of physicians was aimed at exploring their ways of dealing with diagnosis and management of penicillin G allergy.   Of the 235 respondents, 63% believed patients’ self-reported history of penicillin allergy and avoided using penic...

Enhanced killing of penicillin-treated gram-positive cocci by human granulocytes: role of bacterial autolysins, catalase, and granulocyte oxidative pathways.

Staphylococci pretreated with subminimal inhibitory concentrations (subMIC) of cell-wall active antibiotics exhibit increased susceptibility to killing by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), even when phagosome information is impaired by the mold metabolite, cytochalasin B. To investigate the role of specific bacterial factors in the process, studies were carried out with organisms lacki...

Gram-positive Cocci: Staphylococci

Gram-positive anaerobic cocci.

Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC) are a heterogeneous group of organisms defined by their morphological appearance and their inability to grow in the presence of oxygen; most clinical isolates are identified to species in the genus Peptostreptococcus. GPAC are part of the normal flora of all mucocutaneous surfaces and are often isolated from infections such as deep organ abscesses, obstetric...