Researchers Put An End To MRSA Superbug After Successful Genome Sequencing

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a dangerous staph infection often associated with medical procedures in hospitals and doctors offices, has had its genome sequenced by UK researchers.

The successful mapping of the bacteria has given researchers an upper hand in controlling an infection in a local hospital that has so far been found in 12 babies in the maternity ward there. Using fast genome sequencing technology, the researchers suggest they could also find a way to control other hospital superbugs like salmonella and E. coli, and diseases such as tuberculosis.

The sequencing was completed by researchers at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals. Using the advanced DNA sequencing technology they were able to confirm the presence of an ongoing outbreak of MRSA in real time. Their efforts led to the stoppage of the outbreak, saving countless patients from further harm. While other methods have been used to track down hospital infection outbreaks, this new method is by far the fastest and most accurate.

The researchers discovered the outbreak had extended into the wider community, which also could not have been reached using previous methods. The new technologies also led the team to link the outbreak to an unsuspecting carrier, who was treated to eradicate the infection.

We are always seeking ways to improve our patient care and wanted to explore the role that the latest sequencing technologies could play in the control of infections in hospitals, Dr. Nick Brown, consultant microbiologist at the Health Protection Agency and infection control doctor at Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge, said in a statement.

What we have glimpsed through this pioneering study is a future in which new sequencing methods will help us to identify, manage and stop hospital outbreaks and deliver even better patient care, added Brown.

Doctors were concerned when they started detecting MRSA in babies at Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. In all, doctors found infections in 12 babies at the facilitys maternity ward during routine screening. But their testing could not give them a clear picture if the infection was from a single outbreak or if separate cases were being brought into the hospital.

With no other alternatives, doctors turned to science for an answer.

In their study, the researchers analyzed MRSA isolates in the 12 babies with DNA sequencing technology and demonstrated clearly that all the MRSA bacteria were closely related, indicating there was an official outbreak. Their study also showed the outbreak was more extensive than previously realized, discovering that more than twice as many people were carrying or were infected with the same strain. Many of these additional cases were people who had recent links to the hospital but were otherwise healthy and living in the community when they developed a MRSA infection.

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Researchers Put An End To MRSA Superbug After Successful Genome Sequencing