Table 1.

Timeline of introduction of antibiotics active against Staphylococcus aureus; first report of resistance and description of mechanism of resistance

Antibiotic	Introduction	Resistance reported	Mechanism of resistance	References
Penicillin	1943	1945	β-lactamase	Demerec 1945
Methicillin	1959	1961	Penicillin binding protein (PBP) 2a	Barber 1961
Tetracycline	1950	1955	Efflux pumps (tetK and tetL) and ribosomal protection proteins (tetM and tetO)	Brodie et al 1955
Vancomycin	1956	1997/2002	Abundance of D-alanyl D-alanine/shift to D-alanyl D-lactate	Hiramatsu et al 1997; Chang et al 2003
Trimethoprim	1965	1986	Mutation in dihydrofolate reductase	Archer et al 1986
Linezolid	2000	2002	Mutations in 23S ribosomal RNA	Pillai et al 2002
Daptomycin	2003	2005	Mutations in mprF, rpoB, and rpoC (unclear).	Hayden et al 2005
Tigecycline	2005	NR	NR

Abbreviation: NR, not reported.