As if the E. coli outbreak in Europe wasn’t frightening enough, British scientists have announced the discovery of a new strain of a dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacterium that infects humans and cows.
In a report being published online today in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers said they stumbled across the new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while studying udder infections in cows on British farms.
MRSA is a strain of the bacterium that causes staph infections that is impervious to first-line antibiotics.
In the new research, Mark Holmes of the University of Cambridge and colleagues came across a resistant strain of MRSA that did not have a gene known as mecA, which is what typically makes the organism resistant. An analysis of the specimens revealed that they had a different, previously unknown version of the gene.
The resistant organism possibly could be spread through unpasteurized milk, Holmes told reporters Thursday, and means that tests currently used to diagnose the infection could miss cases involving this strain, possibly delaying life-saving treatment.
The Washington Post
