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.

Type of upper airway bacteria could influence asthma severity

A new study raises the possibility of modulating asthma symptoms via the bacteria that commonly live in the upper airway. The work, which was published on December 16, 2019, in the journal Nature Communications, shows that in children who have mild to moderate asthma, the microbiome of the upper airway could determine how severe the symptoms are.

16 Dec 2019

Scientists modify approved cancer drug to develop new antibiotic

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are increasingly the source of deadly infections. A team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig have now modified an approved cancer drug to develop an active agent against multidrug-resistant pathogens.

16 Dec 2019

Modifying a cancer drug has created a new agent for multi-resistant infections

Researchers have modified a cancer drug to create an agent that is effective at treating multi-drug-resistant infections.

16 Dec 2019

New strategy could prevent side effects of targeted cancer treatment

Targeted, highly effective cancer treatments often produce debilitating side effects. This is the case with one commonly used therapy which works by blocking the epidermal growth factor receptor, a protein that stimulates cell proliferation.

13 Dec 2019

Molecular drills target and destroy deadly superbugs

Molecular drills have gained the ability to target and destroy deadly bacteria that have evolved resistance to nearly all antibiotics. In some cases, the drills make the antibiotics effective once again.

12 Dec 2019

New antimicrobial polymer can kill bacteria resistant to common antibiotics

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University have designed an antimicrobial polymer that can kill bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics, including the superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

12 Dec 2019

Manuka honey fights infection in surgical dressings

And now, Manuka honey is proving a gamechanger in the fight against extremely drug-resistant infections, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers.

5 Dec 2019

Ommochromes have antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic properties

Ommochromes, the pigments that colour the skin of squids and other invertebrates, could be used in the food and health sectors for their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. This is confirmed by the analyses carried out by researchers from the University of Sonora in Mexico and the Miguel Hernández University in Spain.

5 Dec 2019

Hybrid antibiotics show promising results in eradicating deadly staph infections

Eradicating deadly staph using a new breed of antibiotics has revealed promising results in research released by QUT, to help overcome one of the biggest modern medical challenges.

4 Dec 2019

Isolated components of Saussurea have positive effect on bone tissue regeneration

Saussurea controversa is a perennial herbaceous plant that has been traditionally used by the people of the Far East, Siberia, Tibet, and Mongolia to treat liver, kidney, digestive tract, and locomotive diseases. Its dried leaves are sold in pharmacies because their decoction is widely used as a medicine against cold and bronchitis. To understand what substances this plant owes its medicinal properties to, a team of scientists from Siberian State Medical University and Tomsk Polytechnic University extracted individual components from the plant and determined their composition.

3 Dec 2019

Household factors promote rapid staph superbug spread within families

A new study published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases on November 21, 2019, shows how the superbug called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can get into a house and spread rapidly between family members and pets, with the potential to cause devastating infections.

27 Nov 2019

Researchers trace the origins and global spread of S. aureus lineages

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen prone to developing antibiotic resistance, causing 120,000 cases of bloodstream infections every year in the United States and over 5000 in Australia; the mortality rate is around 25 per cent from each case.

26 Nov 2019

Research yields potent antimicrobial that works against staph infection

Research led by scientists from McMaster University has yielded a potent antimicrobial that works against the toughest infectious disease strains. The find could be the beginning of developing new therapeutics to combat drug-resistant infections.

25 Nov 2019

Potent antimicrobial could combat antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections

Scientists have discovered a strong antimicrobial that is effective against some of the strongest infectious diseases.

25 Nov 2019

Study could open new avenues for antibacterial treatments

Scientists have revealed how common respiratory bugs that cause serious infections in people with cystic fibrosis interact together, according to a new study in eLife.

12 Nov 2019

Using high-resolution X-ray analysis to solve structure of stress proteins from Staphylococcus

Project leader, Head of Structural Biology Lab Konstantin Usachev explains, One of the main factors favoring a microorganism's survival in extreme conditions is preserving ribosomes - a macromolecular complex comprising RNA and proteins.

6 Nov 2019

CRISPR-Cas9 protein can help increase targeting accuracy in genome editing process

A team of researchers from City University of Hong Kong and Karolinska Institutet has recently developed a new protein that can help increase the targeting accuracy in the genome editing process. It is believed that it would be useful for future gene therapies in human, which require high precision.

6 Nov 2019

Researchers produce synthetic phages that attack broader range of bacterial strains

Bacteriophages ("phages" for short) are viruses that infect bacteria. Phages are highly host-specific and will typically only infect and kill an individual species or even subspecies of bacteria. Compared to conventional antibiotics, phages do not indiscriminately kill bacteria.

4 Nov 2019

Doctors report first death from fecal microbiota transplant

Details of an investigational study have emerged after a man died following a fecal microbiate transplant. The events prompted the FDA to set new safety guidelines for the practice.

31 Oct 2019