Image of Staphylococcus

Description:

Under a high magnification of 10,000x, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) shows a strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria taken from a vancomycin intermediate resistant culture (VISA).

Under SEM, one can not tell the difference between bacteria that are susceptible, or multidrug resistant, but with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), at least with VISA isolates one can see a thickening in the cell wall that may attribute to their reduced susceptibility to vancomycin . See PHIL 11155 for a colorized version of this image.
Created: 2001