Occurrence of Serious Bacterial Infections Since Introduction of Antibacterial Agents

The introduction and widespread use of chemotherapeutic and antibiotic agents has resulted in profound changes in the number and character of infections that are being encountered. Emphasis has been placed most recently on the number and seriousness of staphylococcic infections, particularly those occurring within hospitals. This has been brought strikingly into our consciousness because of the large number of outbreaks in nurseries and maternity wards and by the high incidence of infections in originally clean surgical wounds and as complications of debilitating diseases, events which have resulted in considerable morbidity and appreciable mortality within hospitals. There is also some evidence of extension of these infections into the communities. The problem has been recognized as being world-wide and extending to all areas where antibiotics have been extensively used. It has also been the subject of many conferences and of a number of monographs.1 Although the staphylococcus problem has received considerable