methicillin
1
6.0
- noun
- /ˌmɛθɪˈsɪlɪn/
- Specialized
:
meticilina
- When it is resistant to antibiotics (like methicillin), infections are more difficult to treat.
- methicillin-resistant
- methicillin-sensitive
- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Examples
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A 71-year-old male patient was admitted with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus mediastinitis two months after coronary artery bypass grafting.
Academic text (2007) -
His sputum showed the presence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal aureus bacteria.
Academic text (2007) -
Did you administer methicillin to the lesion victims?
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Her hospital course was complicated by pneumonia and a hip wound infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Academic text (2006) -
Doctors often prescribe methicillin for treating serious staph infections.
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Using methicillin can help combat certain bacterial infections effectively.
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The emergence of methicillin-resistant bacteria poses a significant challenge in healthcare.
Synonyms
1
6.3
A penicillin medicine that treats staph infections not helped by penicillin
An antibiotic doctors give for infections from staph bacteria that penicillin cannot cure
An antibiotic used to treat infections caused by staph bacteria when penicillin does not work
A medicine that fights some bacteria to treat infections
An antibiotic like penicillin that still works when bacteria make a chemical that breaks penicillin
Surface Forms
Morphology
methicillin = penicillin (transparent) = meth + penicillin
Methicillin is clearly presented as a meth- derivative of penicillin and will be understood by learners as a type of penicillin, even if the precise chemical meaning of 'meth-' is technical.
Etymology
Methicillin comes from the chemical part methyl and the well-known antibiotic penicillin. A helpful way to remember it is that methyl means 'a small chemical group', so methicillin is basically penicillin with a small chemical change made to fight bacteria that were not killed by the original penicillin.