Melbourne scientists have found out how the golden staph, a common pathogen, turns deadly and their findings can potentially save millions of lives globally.
A team led by the University of Melbourne’s Dr. Abdou Hachani, a senior researcher at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, has published their discovery in the online medical journal eLife.
The team reported how the golden staph can hide inside human cells to avoid being exposed to the immune system which prevents the golden staph from being eaten. This is a fascinating discovery that can help scientists come up with better treatments for patients before they are inflicted with golden staph infections.
In Australia, around 4,000 people get golden staph infections a year and about 20 percent of those people end up dying due to this condition. One in three people unknowingly carry golden staph in their nose or on their skin. For most people, carrying golden staph is harmless. However, if the golden staph enters the bloodstream, you can get a serious infection that can cause death.
The research team figured out a new method to study the behavior of the golden staph inside a human body to help find a cure. Dr. Hachani said the key method to finding a cure is to understand how the golden staph behaves, which provided valuable knowledge about the ability the golden staph has to survive and thrive in humans. Until now, Dr. Hachani said, scientists had thought the golden staph was a pathogen, a germ that can cause disease, that only thrived outside cells which made the cure for the golden staph less effective.
Australia and New Zealand provided the research team with 400 samples of people with golden staph infections. These countries gave the team a unique treasure trove of data.
“We were lucky to have a very large collection of clinical isolates or golden staph isolated from blood infections,” Dr. Hachani said. “These were a key part to verify our hypotheses. And having isolates coming from real patients, causing real damage gave us the fuel for big data analysis.
He said the team discovered that the golden staph seems harmless but is actually very dangerous. Dr. Hachani said the discovery would be life-changing and lifesaving because, by 2050, the United Nations estimates that up to 10 million deaths annually could be caused by a germ that would be difficult to treat. This disease could be more deadly than Covid-19 across the globe.
“This discovery means that we will be able to design ‘a la carte’ treatments for patients with golden staph before we reach the doom date* of 2050,” Dr. Hachani said. Scientists are working to find a cure for golden staph before the deadly pandemic where millions can die.
Sources: https://www.kidsnews.com.au/science/scientists-reveal-how-golden-staph-turns-deadly/news-story/6411a45e30cea25fd434a6ef442f6529
A team led by the University of Melbourne’s Dr. Abdou Hachani, a senior researcher at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, has published their discovery in the online medical journal eLife.
The team reported how the golden staph can hide inside human cells to avoid being exposed to the immune system which prevents the golden staph from being eaten. This is a fascinating discovery that can help scientists come up with better treatments for patients before they are inflicted with golden staph infections.
In Australia, around 4,000 people get golden staph infections a year and about 20 percent of those people end up dying due to this condition. One in three people unknowingly carry golden staph in their nose or on their skin. For most people, carrying golden staph is harmless. However, if the golden staph enters the bloodstream, you can get a serious infection that can cause death.
The research team figured out a new method to study the behavior of the golden staph inside a human body to help find a cure. Dr. Hachani said the key method to finding a cure is to understand how the golden staph behaves, which provided valuable knowledge about the ability the golden staph has to survive and thrive in humans. Until now, Dr. Hachani said, scientists had thought the golden staph was a pathogen, a germ that can cause disease, that only thrived outside cells which made the cure for the golden staph less effective.
Australia and New Zealand provided the research team with 400 samples of people with golden staph infections. These countries gave the team a unique treasure trove of data.
“We were lucky to have a very large collection of clinical isolates or golden staph isolated from blood infections,” Dr. Hachani said. “These were a key part to verify our hypotheses. And having isolates coming from real patients, causing real damage gave us the fuel for big data analysis.
He said the team discovered that the golden staph seems harmless but is actually very dangerous. Dr. Hachani said the discovery would be life-changing and lifesaving because, by 2050, the United Nations estimates that up to 10 million deaths annually could be caused by a germ that would be difficult to treat. This disease could be more deadly than Covid-19 across the globe.
“This discovery means that we will be able to design ‘a la carte’ treatments for patients with golden staph before we reach the doom date* of 2050,” Dr. Hachani said. Scientists are working to find a cure for golden staph before the deadly pandemic where millions can die.
Sources: https://www.kidsnews.com.au/science/scientists-reveal-how-golden-staph-turns-deadly/news-story/6411a45e30cea25fd434a6ef442f6529