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New deadly superbug Steno an ever-increasing threat
news-medical.net ^ | 8. May 2008 | NA

Posted on 08/15/2009 3:11:43 PM PDT by neverdem

Scientists in the Britain say hospitals could be facing an increasing threat from yet another deadly bacterial infection with the potential to rapidly develop a resistance to drugs.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have found the bacteria Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Steno) currently seen in under 1,000 cases, may ultimately prove to be more difficult to treat than superbugs such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

There are currently less than 1,000 reports of Steno blood poisoning in the UK a year - a third of which are fatal; Steno poses a threat to people who are already ill and cases have soared by 40% between 2001 and 2006.

Most Steno infections occur in severely ill patients with already weakened immune systems and are responsible for less than 1% of all healthcare acquired infections; it kills around 300 Britons a year.

The elderly, intensive care patients and cancer patients whose immune systems have been weakened through chemotherapy are among those most at risk.

Steno infections spread through wet areas such as taps and shower heads, and can cling to equipment such as ventilator tubes and catheters, growing into a "biofilm" coating which is difficult to remove.

The study warns the degree of resistance Steno has shown is alarming.

Dr. Matthew Avison from Bristol University who co-led the research team, says Steno is the latest in an ever-increasing list of antibiotic-resistant hospital superbugs and is very worrying because strains are now emerging that are resistant to all available antibiotics.

The researchers believe that cracking the bacterium's genetic code will help scientists to find new way to combat its threat.

However, the Health Protection Agency says the threat should not be over-stated as Steno does not spread in the same way as MRSA or Clostridium difficile and there is little spread between patients.

The researchers say once they know which proteins cause Steno to stick to surfaces, compounds could be developed which interfere with this action which would in turn lead to new ways of combating it.

The research is published in the journal Genome Biology.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Testing; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: health; medicine; microbiology; steno; stenotrophomonas
I couldn't find any citations from Matthew Avison in Genome Biology for 2009.
1 posted on 08/15/2009 3:11:49 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: Mother Abigail; EBH; vetvetdoug; Smokin' Joe; Global2010; Battle Axe; null and void; ...
The complete genome, comparative and functional analysis of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia reveals an organism heavily shielded by drug resistance determinants.

It helps when you get the year right.

2 posted on 08/15/2009 3:24:07 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

bookmark


3 posted on 08/15/2009 3:41:52 PM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
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To: neverdem

So who has more problems per capita with superbugs... the NHS or the USA?


4 posted on 08/15/2009 3:44:11 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (When did it become the Democrat You-Shut-Up-And-Listen-To-Me Tour?)
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To: neverdem
OK, is this a new bug or one with a new name? It sounds like a Psuedomonas spp variant.
5 posted on 08/15/2009 4:22:44 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: vetvetdoug
OK, is this a new bug or one with a new name? It sounds like a Psuedomonas spp variant.

Good catch!

Emerging and Unusual Gram-Negative Infections in Cystic Fibrosis: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

S. maltophilia is an aerobic gram-negative rod first isolated in 1943 and called Bacterium bookeri. It was formally classified as Pseudomonas maltophilia in 1961, renamed Xanthomonas maltophilia after further taxonomic analysis in 1981, and finally reclassified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in 1993.

6 posted on 08/15/2009 8:28:15 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: vetvetdoug
You are right. It was formerly known as Pseudomonas maltophilia. It's genus name was changed to Xanthomonas, but we microbiologists had hardly gotten used to that name when it was changed again to Stenotrophomonas. The name Xanthomonas made sense since it can have a slight yellow pigment, but I have no idea where "the powers that be" came up with the new name. It took me forever to be able to remember how to say the genus name without having just looked at it.
7 posted on 08/15/2009 8:30:47 PM PDT by srmorton (Choose life!)
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To: srmorton
Before I went to veterinary college, I majored in Micro having taken every almost micro course the University of Tennessee offered, both undergraduate and graduate. Unfortunately, the last class I took was in 1980. The taxonomy of bacteria has radically changed since then. I understand because of DNA testing Bergey's was a nightmare for several years.

I am willing to bet that Stenotrophomonas is one of the same bugs I characterized in one of my graduate courses by finding them secreting collagenases, hyalurinidases, elastases and proteases. Couple those enzymes with the hypermotility and antibiotic resistance and you have a nightmare. Early in my micro career I played with a Pseudomonas putida that could use phenol as a substrate.

8 posted on 08/16/2009 5:44:30 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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