Appropriate drugs could, Dr Madrenas speculates, mean that S. aureus ultimately becomes a harmless inhabitant of people's bodies.

ECONOMIST: Drug-resistant infections

When caused by S. aureus, the endocarditis is fatal at least one-third of the time.

FORBES: A Better Antibiotic?

Cubist's injectible antibiotic Cidecin targets S. aureus and similarly resistant bugs in hospitals.

FORBES: A Better Antibiotic?

S. aureus is a small, gold-colored bacteria that is often among the first to out-mutate antibiotics designed to kill it.

FORBES: The Next Antibiotic Buyout?

Like other bacteria, S. aureus mutates at random, and through trial-and-error it will eventually find a way to outsmart any drug.

FORBES: A Better Antibiotic?

He then infected mice with lethal levels of S. aureus and injected some of them with doses of his selected rings.

ECONOMIST: Nanotechnology in biology

Earlier this year, the American Society for Microbiology published the genome of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) in an effort to understand and thwart the mechanisms that enable the bacteria to develop total resistance.

FORBES: Private Physicians Drive Up Antibiotic Resistance, Helped Along By Patients

And S. aureus is even more dangerous.

CNN: FIGHTING SUPERBUGS

Nabi's work on a smoker's vaccine dates to 1996, when Ali Fattom, the company's vice president of research, came up with a workable vaccine for Staphylococcus aureus, a leading cause of infection in hospitals.

FORBES: A nicotine vaccine may help smokers stop for good.