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.

Community-acquired MRSA spreads

Drug resistant hospital superbugs like MRSA have been kept under control in Denmark for more than 30 years.

1 Apr 2008

MRSA in hospital intensive care -- what's growing where?

Researchers are finding out which bugs grow in intensive care units to develop a novel sampling regime that would indicate the threat of MRSA and other superbugs in the environment, scientists heard (Monday 31 March 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

31 Mar 2008

A biosensing nanodevice to revolutionize health screenings

One day soon a biosensing nanodevice developed by Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch may eliminate long lines at airport security checkpoints and revolutionize health screenings for diseases like anthrax, cancer and antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

26 Mar 2008

How Staphylococcus aureus resists our natural defenses

Researchers at the University of Washington have uncovered how the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, including the notorious MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staph aureus) "superbug" strains, resists our body's natural defenses against infection.

25 Mar 2008

Community-acquired staph pneumonia appears more common, including MRSA

Preliminary research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that community acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium may be more common than originally suspected, including that caused by antibiotic resistant strains.

20 Mar 2008

Study outlines risk of treatment-resistant infection following facelift surgery

About one-half percent of patients undergoing facelift surgery at one outpatient surgical center between 2001 and 2007 developed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, according to a report in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Mar 2008

New findings do not support recommendation for universal screening on hospital admission for MRSA

New findings do not support the recommendation for universal screening on hospital admission for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections in surgical patients, according to a study in the March 12 issue of JAMA.

12 Mar 2008

JAMA MRSA article provides false support for CDC's 'do-nothing' status quo

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) purports to show that screening for MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococus aureus), a simple skin or nasal swab, is not effective in reducing MRSA hospital infections ("Universal Screening for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus at Hospital Admission and Nosocomial Infection in Surgical Patients," JAMA vol. 299, no. 10, March 12, 2008).

11 Mar 2008

Tackling antimicrobial resistance

Drug resistance is making many diseases increasingly difficult and sometimes impossible to treat, according to Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

11 Mar 2008

Scientists identify proteins that help bacteria put up a fight

Scientists have identified the role of two proteins that contribute to disease-causing bacteria cells' versatility in resisting certain classes of antibiotics.

27 Feb 2008

Deadly E. coli bug now threatening communities outside of hospitals

Scientists are warning of the increasing threat from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria.

19 Feb 2008

Cholesterol-lowering drug used to block staph infections in mince

An international team of researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has blocked staph infections in mice using a drug previously tested in clinical trials as a cholesterol-lowering agent.

17 Feb 2008

Bacterial toxin closes gate on immune response

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that a bacterial toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell membranes.

14 Feb 2008

NSW patients at greater risk of infection by super bugs

A study published late last year on the prevalence of the bug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA which showed that far more MRSA bugs were collected in NSW-ACT hospitals than in other states, has been supported by one of Sydney's most senior surgeons.

13 Feb 2008

Weakness found in anthrax bacterium

MIT and New York University researchers have identified a weakness in the defenses of the anthrax bacterium that could be exploited to produce new antibiotics.

25 Jan 2008

No high quality studies on reducing MRSA infection in nursing homes for elderly people

Nursing homes for older people provide environments where bacteria such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are likely to thrive.

24 Jan 2008

Most dangerous form of staph infection comes from single strain

Researchers have discovered that the most dangerous form of staph infection now occurring in the United States originates from a single strain of bacteria, not multiple strains as previously believed.

23 Jan 2008

Studies highlight MRSA evolution and resilience

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain USA300 of an evolving bacterium that has spread with "extraordinary transmissibility" throughout the United States during the past five years, according to a new study led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists.

22 Jan 2008

Kiss but don't shake hands to stay healthy!

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene say a quick "air kiss" on the cheek is a relatively-germ free affair when compared to a hand-shake.

16 Jan 2008

New multi-drug resistant microbe bad news for gay men

Sexually active gay men are many times more likely than others to acquire a new, highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the so-called MRSA bacteria widely know as the "superbug," a UCSF-led study shows.

15 Jan 2008