Enterococci may have evolved antimicrobial resistance millions of years ago

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Enterococci bacteria are the bane of hospitals, causing thousands of multidrug-resistant infections in patients each year. Now, researchers have traced evidence of the bacteria's evolutionary history back 425 million years and theorize that the same traits that allow the bacteria to thrive in hospitals likely emerged when they were carried onto land in the guts of the world's first terrestrial animals.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news