MRSA Kills White Blood Cells

New MRSA strains of virus are spreading in Europe and the United States that kill white blood cells, researchers report.

Researchers told the Federation of Infection Societies Conference at the University of Cardiff in Wales that new strains of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus-aureus, known as MRSA, are often characterized by the toxin Panton-Valentine leucocidin, or PVL, which kills white blood cells — the body’s key defense against invasive bacteria.

Although the resistant strain is not yet widespread in the United Kingdom, we have seen increasing numbers of PVL- toxin producing Staphylococcus aureus infections, mainly presenting with recurrent boils and abscesses, Dr. Marina Morgan of the Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation National Health Service Trust said in a statement. This excessive production of white cells to compensate for those killed by the PVL toxin leads to recurrent severe boils and abscesses.

A minority of patients carrying the PVL-producing staphylococci can suffer severe invasive infections such as septicaemia or a lethal form of pneumonia in which the lung tissue is destroyed by the toxin, Morgan said.