Latest Staphylococcus aureus Stories

In German hospitals, each year 132 000 patients contract infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). For more than a decade, different countries have reported an increasing incidence of MRSA infections in the general population ("community associated" [CA-] MRSA). In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Robin Köck from the Münster University Hospital and coauthors provide an overview of the epidemiological situation with regard to MRSA in Germany....

Widespread practice creates resistance genes, promoting antibiotic resistance In a review study, researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine zero in on the controversial, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals and fish farming as a cause of antibiotic resistance. They report that the preponderance of evidence argues for stricter regulation of the practice. Stuart Levy, a world-renowned expert in antibiotic resistance, notes that a guiding tenet of public health, the...

Infectious diseases specialists from Austin Health are working closely with Microbiologists from the University of Melbourne to understand how Staph is becoming resistant to all antibiotic therapies. The treatment of serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (Golden Staph) is complicated by the development of antibiotic resistance. Seriously ill patients, vulnerable to infections can be at additional risk if antimicrobial agents become less effective in fighting infections....

A new study shows how influenza can quickly become deadly, even among healthy children. An example was seen in the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, when many previously healthy children became critically ill, developing severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, potentially fatal. Now, the Children’s Hospital Boston has conducted the largest nationwide investigation of influenza in critically ill children and found a simultaneous infection with Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) increased the risk...

ANAHEIM, Calif., Nov. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cempra Pharmaceuticals will be presenting data demonstrating Taksta's activity against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and demonstrating solithromycin's anti-inflammatory activity in a human lung epithelial in vitro model at the 25th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Anaheim, California. Both studies will be presented during poster abstract sessions at...

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) was found in the environment of 48 percent of the rooms of patients colonized or infected with the pathogen, according to a new study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The study examined how frequently the environment surrounding the patient becomes contaminated and which environmental...

New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices. Patients with implants can develop infections because of a biofilm of persistent bacterial bugs on the surfaces of their devices. Researchers found that some strains of the bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, have just a few genetic variants in the proteins on their...

Infectious films of Staph bacteria around an implanted cardiac device, such as a pacemaker, often force a second surgery to replace the device at a cost of up to $100,000. But not all implanted cardiac devices become infected. Now researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Ohio State University (OSU) have discovered how and why certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) bacteria, the leading cause of these device infections, have infected thousands of implanted cardiac devices....

Researchers said on Thursday that they have discovered a toxin that could help a body's immune system beat superbugs. The toxin, SElX, is made by 95 percent of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.  It is released by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which leads the body's immune system to go into overdrive and damage healthy cells. SElX belongs to a family of toxins known as super antigens that can invoke an extreme immune response. The research looked at a strain of...

WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage infectious disease biopharmaceutical company, announced today the award of a contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), worth up to $42.7 million over five years. The award will fund the preclinical and clinical development of a new class of bridged bicyclic antibiotics known as Bicyclolides to be used...