Staphylococcus aureus News and Research

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Staphylococcus aureus is a spherical bacterium (coccus) which on microscopic examination appears in pairs, short chains, or bunched, grape-like clusters. These organisms are Gram-positive. Some strains are capable of producing a highly heat-stable protein toxin that causes illness in humans.

Research shows how pathogenic bacteria hide inside host cells

A new study into Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium which is responsible for severe chronic infections worldwide, reveals how bacteria have developed a strategy of hiding within host cells to escape the immune system as well as many antibacterial treatments. The research, published by EMBO Molecular Medicine, demonstrates how ‘phenotype switching’ enables bacteria to adapt to their environmental conditions, lie dormant inside host cells and become a reservoir for relapsing infections.

26 Jan 2011

Exciton, ULURU sign agreement to develop and market Altrazeal exSALT product

ULURU Inc. announced today that it has signed a Binding Letter of Intent with Exciton Technologies Inc. to develop and market a product that will combine Altrazeal® with Exciton's proprietary exSALT™ Antimicrobial Technology.

20 Jan 2011

Vaccine to prevent MRSA infections after bone and joint surgery

University of Rochester Medical Center orthopaedic scientists are a step closer to developing a vaccine to prevent life-threatening methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections following bone and joint surgery.

18 Jan 2011

Private rooms in the ICU help reduce hospital infections

A research team from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University has demonstrated that private rooms in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) play a key role in reducing hospital infections like C-difficile. The study, published today in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, also suggests that length of stay would be shorter and this could lead to cost savings to the healthcare system.

12 Jan 2011

IDSA releases MRSA treatment guidelines

Physicians now have help in their battle against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a potentially deadly infection that initially was limited to hospitals and health care facilities but has become a growing problem in healthy children and adults. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has released its first guidelines for the treatment of increasingly common MRSA infections.

7 Jan 2011

ImmuVen to develop T cell receptor proteins for treating MRSA, cancer

Start-up company ImmuVen and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have entered into a license agreement under which ImmuVen will develop modified T cell receptor proteins for the purpose of treating cancer and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

4 Jan 2011

Low levels of microbe-killing molecules improve survival rate of people with CGD

Investigators at the National Institutes of Health have observed that the survival rate of people with a rare immunodeficiency disease called chronic granulomatous disease is greatly improved when even very low levels of microbe-killing molecules are present.

30 Dec 2010

Accelr8 reports $466,362 net sales revenue for first fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2010

Accelr8 Technology Corporation announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2010. Net sales revenues totaled $466,362; net income from operations was $49,974 with total net income of $67,250. For the previous quarter, net sales were $15,549 with a loss from operations of $(423,373) and a total net loss of $(411,981). Shareholders' equity totaled $4,985,682 at the current quarter's end, up from $4,909,778 at the end of the previous fiscal quarter.

17 Dec 2010

Plasma technology safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections

Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, says a study published this week in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

15 Dec 2010

Scientists determine 500 three-dimensional protein structures from bacterial and protozoan pathogens

9 Dec 2010

Scientists work together to wipe out some of the most lethal diseases

Scientists at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have reached a major milestone in the effort to wipe out some of the most lethal diseases on the planet. As leaders of two large structural genomics centers, they've experimentally determined 500 three-dimensional protein structures from a number of bacterial and protozoan pathogens, which could potentially lead to new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to combat deadly infectious diseases.

8 Dec 2010

Idis to manage ViroPharma's named patient program

ViroPharma Incorporated and Idis, the global leader in developing long-term strategic solutions to therapeutic access, today announced that the two companies have partnered to facilitate access to certain ViroPharma products through a named patient program (NPP). ViroPharma's NPP, developed and managed by Idis, will allow international healthcare professionals to prescribe certain products to individual patients until the time that approval is sought in local countries.

7 Dec 2010

Ancora receives two federal grants to develop vaccine for malaria, staphylococcus aureus

Ancora Pharmaceuticals announced today that it received two federal grants under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program to continue funding its groundbreaking research and development of vaccine candidates to prevent malaria and infection by staphylococcus aureus.

7 Dec 2010

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Galderma expand their multi-year collaboration agreement

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class, anti-infective compounds for the treatment and prevention of antibiotic-resistant infections, and Galderma, a global leading pharmaceutical company dedicated exclusively to the field of dermatology, announce the expansion of their multi-year collaboration agreement. Based on positive data assessing the activity of NovaBay's Aganocide compounds against impetigo, Galderma has agreed to exercise its option for this indication.

6 Dec 2010

Research on ribosome could aid antibiotic development against MRSA infection

Theoretical biologists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have used a New Mexico supercomputer to aid an international research team in untangling another mystery related to ribosomes-those enigmatic jumbles of molecules that are the protein factories of living cells.

3 Dec 2010

Study finds nursing home residents carry MRSA infection

A study published in the January 2011 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology finds that a high percentage of nursing home residents carry Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and suggests that some nursing homes could be doing more to prevent the spread of the bacteria, which can lead to hard-to-treat infections.

2 Dec 2010

FDA approves CUBICIN 2-minute IV injection for MRSA skin infections, bacteremia

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its currently-marketed antibiotic, CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection), has been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for once-a-day dosing as a 2-minute intravenous (IV) injection.

2 Dec 2010

NovaBay announces meeting with FDA to discuss Aganocide compound for impetigo

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class, anti-infective compounds for the treatment and prevention of antibiotic-resistant infections, announces a successful meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss the Company's clinical development of its Aganocide compound NVC-422, intended for use in the treatment of impetigo.

29 Nov 2010

Superantigens can disrupt immune system, can cause more illnesses

Superantigens, the toxins produced by staphylococcus bacteria, are more complex than previously believed, reveals a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in an article published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Their discovery shows that the body's immune system can cause more illnesses than realised.

29 Nov 2010

Looking back and moving forward: 100 years of Pneumococcal vaccination

"Since the introduction of smallpox vaccination by Sir Edward Jenner in 1796, it took 184 years until the WHO could declare the world free of smallpox. How long will it take to eliminate pneumococcus from the world?"

25 Nov 2010