Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Strain Severe Publich Health Risk

[Health Dr. 2]

Antibiotic-resistant staph strain poses severe public health risk
Wednesday, May 04, 2005


A strain of staphylococcus aureus which has acquired a resistance to methicillin and other powerful antibiotics is concerning researchers and health care professionals. The resistant strain is distinct from the antibiotic-resistant strains of staph which have long plagued hospitals, and is instead acquired in the larger community.

The strain can cause skin and soft tissue infections, but more serious is its ability to inflict a particularly deadly necrotizing pneumonia capable of killing within 24 hours from the time of infection. The bacterial strain is still relatively rare but cases have been found throughout the world.

Researchers believe it is related to an older strain that caused a pandemic in the 1950s before being eradicated by synthetic penicillin drugs in the 1960s. If you enjoy this article, you may also be interested in an article entitled 'New surgical procedure helps with chronic sinus infections, but avoiding cow's milk is the real cure.'

Overview:

A virulent type of community-acquired MRSA "superbug" that attacks healthy, young people has been found to be the descendent of a penicillin-resistant strain that caused serious infections worldwide 50 years ago.

Scientists fear that this offspring superbug strain - which causes serious boils and abscesses and can lead to a severe pneumonia - could pose a major public health threat in the future.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is genetically distinct from the strains prevalent in hospitals, and can cause infections in young people with no connection to healthcare environments.

Sickness ranges from relatively minor skin and soft tissue infections to a necrotizing pneumonia which destroys the lungs so rapidly that it can kill just 24 hours after infection.

This is because most CA-MRSA strains carry a particularly vicious cytotoxin called Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin which destroys leukocytes.

Cases are still relatively rare but have been reported throughout the world, though this form of MRSA is a particular problem in the United States, where in some areas it accounts for 70% of all reported MRSA infections.

While these bacteria are not multi-drug resistant - and can still succumb to the antibiotic vancomycin - treatment can be complicated.

An international team of scientists has found that a strain of CA-MRSA known as the southwest Pacific clone is closely related to an older form of Staphylococcus aureus that caused a pandemic in the 1950s.

This older strain, known as phage type 80/81, was first discovered in neonatal infections in Australia in 1953 and went on to cause serious outbreaks of skin lesions, sepsis and pneumonia worldwide, often in young people and children.

The team sequenced key genes from preserved specimens of 80/81, and compared these to genes from more than 1000 samples of Staphylococcus aureus.

Mark Enright at the University of Bath, who led the study, says the results are alarming.