The culprits behind antibiotic-resistant diseases now plaguing hospitals worldwide have been harboring a secret -- one that Rockefeller scientists have recently exposed. It seems these infectious microbes termed Staphylococcus aureus are not independent criminals working alone.
Rather, they are members of only a few massive "superbug" families, which have spread out and conquered the globe.
The findings, reported in the March 1 issue of Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggest that a close examination of what makes these particular pathogens so powerful may allow scientists to locate and target their weaknesses and subsequently develop novel disease-fighting drugs.
"The secrets of the spectacular success of these S. aureus lineages may be hidden in their unique genetic background and may ultimately lead to new strategies to help fight these dangerous microbes," says Alexander Tomasz, Ph.D., head of the Laboratory of Microbiology at The Rockefeller University and second author of the paper.
Scientists at the Laboratory of Microbiology at Rockefeller University and from the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at the Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, conducted a major study of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) - the most important antibiotic-resistant bacterium or "superbug" dominating hospitals worldwide - beginning six to seven years ago.
The study involved collecting a large number of MRSA strains, or clones, from diseased patients in 160 hospitals located in Southern and Eastern Europe, five Latin American countries, the United States and Japan. The collection of strains was from hospitals in which the frequency of disease by drug-resistant MRSA was high. Using DNA fingerprinting techniques, similar to the ones used in forensic medicine and in criminal investigations, the researchers probed the bacterial culprits responsible for hospital-borne MRSA infections.
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Contact: whitney clavin
clavinw@mail.rockefeller.edu
212-327-7250
Rockefeller University
1-Mar-2002