Staphylococcal Infection, Antibiotic Resistance and Therapeutics

Staphylococcus spp. are a challenge for the modern day medicine due to the complexity of disease process and presence and expression patterns of their respective virulence factors. The members of this genus possess many known toxins, multiple immunoavoidance mechanisms and adherence factors, most of which demonstrate transient, timed, and diseasespecific expression. They cause different types of infections in a host that are either planktonic, biofilm mediated or both. Sepsis and pneumonia are mainly caused by planktonic forms whereas, a whole range of diseases, namely, endophthalmitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, chronic skin infections, indwelling medical device infections, chronic rhino-sinusitis, and dental implantits are caused by the biofilmic form of the bacteria. Abscess can be caused by both of the forms (Harro et al., 2010). Staphylococci are human pathogen, known for their ability to become resistant to antibiotics. They have been associated, besides causing ophthalmic infections, with skin infections and sepsis. Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), in addition to resistance to other drugs, have emerged as a widespread cause of community infection as well. In this chapter, we describe the epidemiology and antibiotic resistance among S. aureus and other species with special reference to ophthalmic infections and focus on newer approaches for treatment of staphylococcus infection like phage therapy and vaccines.