breakthrough may help stop spread of MRSA and C diff
Scottish scientists’ superbugs discovery
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Scientists at two Scottish universities have made a historic breakthrough which could be the first major step towards wiping out the MRSA and Clostridium difficile superbugs.
Results of research carried out at Aberdeen and St Andrews universities were welcomed around the world last night after it was revealed potential new ways to stop the spread of deadly bacteria have been discovered.
The team has been studying how tiny openings on the cell walls of bacteria open and close to release pressure.
If these openings did not operate properly, pressure would be allowed to build up, and the bacteria would explode and die.
The researchers say that, by controlling the openings, it would be possible to slow the growth of bacteria – or even kill them.
Last night, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the discovery, while the UK’s leading microbiologist Hugh Pennington said it “opened new territory” in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bugs.
Recent figures from the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality show deaths from superbugs such as MRSA and other similar bacteria continue to rise across Scotland.
In 2006, hospital-acquired infections were a contributing factor in 422 deaths, up from 401 in 2005. Of these, 398 patients had an operation, up from 380.
Just last month, NHS Grampian was ordered to launch a fresh inquiry into patient deaths linked with the C diff superbug.
Experts are worried about the number of fatalities at both Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the city’s Woodend Hospital, where the bug has been identified as a factor in 34 deaths in recent years.
In a paper published today in the premier journal Science, the researchers describe for the first time the mechanism of a bacterial pressure-release valve, or channel, which helps protect bacteria inside the human body.
The findings of the two university’s teams could now pave the way for new drugs to combat superbugs by controlling these channels.
Professor Ian Booth, who led the team at Aberdeen University, said their findings are the “first step towards the eradication of MRSA and C diff”.
“Channels in bacteria perform key roles in cell survival,” he said. “We have been able to show how this channel opens and closes.
“Understanding how they work will play a major role in inhibiting the survival of bacteria and could have applications as basic as cleansing hospital equipment and wards or helping to make food safer. These channels are found in MRSA and C difficile and this knowledge has not yet been exploited. The future path is to find new chemicals and processes that exploit the importance of the channels to these bacteria.”
The work is the culmination of molecular studies at Aberdeen combined with structural studies at St Andrews. The two groups have been working together for several years.
Professor James Naismith, who co-ordinated the St Andrews team, said: “The system is mechanical – the channel senses the pressure inside the bacteria. As a result the channel alters its shape and creates an opening, releasing the pressure.
“Not only is this a major step forward in scientific understanding of a fundamental process in biology, but it paves the way for the development of new drugs against bacteria.
“It is vital to the bacteria that the channel fully closes and only opens at the right times as mistakes either way would be fatal.
“New chemicals designed to force channels to stay open or shut are likely to kill, or at the very least, greatly slow down the growth of bacteria.
“Slowing down the growth gives the body’s natural defences time to tackle its bacterial invader.”
Last night, Aberdeen-based microbiologist Hugh Pennington welcomed the discovery.
He said: “There is an urgent need to think outside the box to tackle antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and this research gives a new direction for the drug discovery people to target their work. This is a very elegant piece of work.”
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