A new last-resort antibiotic has made its way to the American market.
      To help doctors treat patients battling increasingly common drug-resistant bacteria,
  Synercid, a combination of quinupristin and dalfopristin, is approved to fight life-threatening infections caused by the Enterococcus faecium (VREF) bacterium, which has become resistant to the previous last-resort drug vancomycin. VREF infections occur most often in patients who are hospitalized or who have weak immune systems. The new drug is also approved to treat complicated skin and skin-structure infections.
      
      Synercid's reported side effects include muscle and joint pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and rash. Some patients reported local pain and inflammation when the drug was given in a peripheral vein.
      The drug will be marketed by the French company Rhone-Poulenc Rorer.