Strongest Antibiotic ApprovedFrom Associated PressToday, the FDA approved Synercid to treat vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infections, a life-threatening infection that typically strikes hospital patients. One recent study estimated as many as 52 percent of enterococcal infections are now vancomycin-resistant, making them difficult if not impossible to treat.The FDA also approved Synercid to treat certain complicated skin infections

For the last 10 years, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and elsewhere have, according to news stories, been sounding alarms about the growth of antibiotic resistance, a problem that is particularly prevalent in hospitals, where microbes spread quickly and attack the elderly, people with weak immune systems and other vulnerable patients.