(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The potentially deadly “superbug” could soon meet
its match. Results of a new study bring scientists closer to killing methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Researchers from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) captured the
first images of how MRSA spreads antibiotic-resistance from one bacterium to
another. Conjugative pili -- slender, thread-like bacterial filaments -- extend
and retract on live cells, making them resistant to modern antibiotics.
Using fluorescent dye, researchers were able to record the process these pili
use to spread antibiotic resistance from filament growth, attachment to other
cells and retraction to pull the cells together to prepare for genetic transfer.
Researchers say this is an important step forward in understanding how
antibiotic resistance spreads. “More people in the U.S. die of MRSA each year
than of HIV/AIDS,” Philip Silverman, Ph.D., an OMRF researcher and study author,
was quoted as saying. “It’s crucial that we do all we can to combat this
profound threat to human health.”
Last year, government reports estimated in a single year, nearly 19,000 people
died in the United States after contracting an MRSA infection. Easily
transmittable, antibiotic-resistant infections enter the body through breaks in
the skin -- even microscopic ones -- and nasal passages. These infections often
affect patients in hospitals where many patients have compromised immune
systems. Many doctors call “superbug” infections one of the greatest threats
facing health care today.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008
