September 5, 2018.
A worrying bacterium that causes life-threatening infections is spreading in hospitals around the world, according to a recent Australian study. Explanations.
Bacteria that cause serious nosocomial infections spread in intensive care units
A team of Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne revealed, in a study published on September 3 in the journal Nature Microbiology, the increasing presence in hospitals of the multidrug-resistant bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis. If this bacteria occurs naturally on the skin, it can cause potentially fatal skin, nasal or urinary tract infections.
The problem, according to the researchers, is that this bacteria can spread quickly, especially in intensive care units, in people who are already debilitated. ” Whenever you open a breach in the skin and insert a foreign body into the body (from a cannula into a vein to replacing an aortic valve), it is a gateway for the patient. staphylococcus epidermidis, which can create a focus of infection », They explain.
The bacteria are said to be resistant to antibiotics commonly used in hospitals
Some strains of the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis have slightly modified their DNA, allowing them to better resist the most common antibiotics in hospitals. To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed samples of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria from 96 hospitals in 24 countries. “Using genomics, we revealed that three multidrug-resistant and hospital-adapted Staphylococcus epidermidis lines have emerged over the past decades and have spread globally. », Can we read in the review Nature Microbiology.
What is worrying here is that the bacteria would therefore not only be resistant to first-line antibiotics, but also to those of last resort used in the most fragile patients. Antibiotic resistance has become a public health issue: the overuse of antibiotics over the past 20 years ” accelerated the phenomenon of resistance “Warns the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent WHO report ” confirms that antibiotic resistance is a serious problem all over the world Explains Dr Marc Sprenger, Director of the WHO Secretariat for Antimicrobial Resistance, and highlights high levels of resistance to several serious bacterial infections. It is therefore urgent to act.
Aurelie Giraud
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