We’ve all heard about the growing threat of multi-drug resistant bacteria, or so-called “superbugs” - and it’s pretty scary. These pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria cause serious and sometimes deadly infections and they can become resistant to even antibiotics of ‘last resort’.
One of these pathogenic bacteria is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA for short. MRSA can cause serious and sometimes fatal bloodstream or tissue infections, often when someone is in the hospital.
In this video, Genentech scientists answer a nagging question about treating MRSA infections - namely why are these infections so hard to treat, even when the bacteria are sensitive to the antibiotics?
It’s long been suspected that a small number of MRSA hides in a compartment of our own immune cells protected from antibiotics. The bacteria then use our own immune system as a “Trojan horse” to spread the infection after the course of antibiotics is over. The video also describes a way to take advantage this phenomenon to strike MRSA where it hides.