Treatment hope for MRSA superbug revealed

NEW TREATMENTS could be found for the deadly superbug MRSA after research shed new light on how the infection beats the body’s immune system.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield found that the antibiotic-resistant infection “crowdsources” harmless bacteria in order to cause illness.

The research team said the discovery changes the current understanding of how superbugs survive when attacked by immune system cells.

The study looked at the relationship between the germs behind MRSA and “microflora” bacteria which live in the gut.

The five-year research project was led by the University of Sheffield’s Florey Institute and also involved scientists from Canada, Holland and Sweden.

Simon Foster, Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Sheffield, said: “We harbour a vast array of bacteria as microflora in our guts and on our skin so understanding this combination of pathogen, native microflora and host provides new avenues for approaches to prevent and treat infection.

“A lot of people have been trying to develop a vaccine against the potentially life-threatening virus for a number of years without success.

“This study has shown how a potentially fatal disease like MRSA gains access to our bodies and how the organisms are able to survive inside immune cells.

“It alters the way that we view how infection occurs, the way it should be studied and sets the scene for how it might be tackled.”

MRSA lives harmlessly on the skin of about one in 30 people but can cause harmful infections if it gets deeper into the body.

The infection is difficult to treat because of its resistance to most widely used antibiotics.

The research has been published in the journal Nature Microbiology.