Final answer:
Varieties of Staphylococcus aureus became resistant to methicillin because they developed specific adaptations that conferred survival advantage in environments where the antibiotic was used extensively. MRSA strains are very difficult to treat due to their resistance to multiple antibiotics, raising significant health concerns.
Step-by-step explanation:
Varieties of Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to the drug methicillin developed in response to the use of methicillin and were strongly selected for as methicillin became widely used to treat bacterial infections. This resistance emerged due to the bacteria's ability to acquire a new low-affinity PBP (penicillin-binding protein), which provided resistance to all available β-lactam antibiotics, making certain strains, known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), particularly challenging to treat. These strains can cause severe infections including skin and wound infections, pneumonia, and septicemia, and highlight the challenge of antibiotic resistance, which often requires alternative treatment strategies such as TMP/SMZ, clindamycin, tetracycline, or linezolid.