Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common and significant human pathogens potentially causing a wide range of infections from mild skin forms to severe systemic infections, including infectious endocarditis. The beginnings of the history of targeted treatment of staphylococcal infections are linked to the discovery of penicillin.
The rapid onset of staphylococcal resistance to this antibiotic, mediated by beta-lactamase, the so-called penicillinase hydrolyzing beta-lactam ring, led to the development and introduction of a group of penicillin derivatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s. to said enzyme. The first registered antistaphylococcal penicillin was methicillin, which due to its low acid stability is not aqueous for oral administration.
Subsequently, other representatives with more favorable pharmacological properties gradually appeared in clinical practice, including the possibility of parenteral and oral administration. The whole group is referred to as isoxazolylpenicillins and includes oxacillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin 1.
These are drugs with a very narrow spectrum of activity, including in addition to Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase negative staphylococci also streptococci.