Researchers from the University of Mexico found that applying a simple protein can prevent MRSA from switching from a harmless to virulent form, according to a UPI story this week.

A Slate article argues that we can win the battle against antibiotic resistance by adopting a new strategy:

“It's more than a little embarrassing to be decisively losing a battle of wits to unicellular organisms. At least the bacteria are smart enough to develop new strategies every now and then. We plodding humans have been fighting antibiotic resistance the same way for decades: by restricting access to antibiotics and developing new drugs to kill off problem bugs. It hasn't worked, and it's never going to. Until we make a tactical shift, resistance is going to become more common and more dangerous.”

And the blog Mike the Mad Biologist has an interesting response to the above Slate article.  He also has a post on the economic burden of antibiotic resistance, where he states that hospitals spend between fifteen to twenty cents of every dollar goes to fighting antibiotic resistance.