13 June 2002

Antibiotic resistance: 'Superbug' virulence

Enterococci are responsible for many of the bacterial infections acquired in hospitals. Over the years enterococci developed a high level of resistance to streptomycin and later gentamicin. The antibiotic of last resort became vancomycin, but vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus were isolated in Europe in 1986 and in the United States in 1988. The spread of these 'superbugs' has been alarmingly rapid. Examination of the genome of the first vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis to be isolated in the United States now reveals the presence of a pathogenicity island, a section of the genome not found in non-pathogenic strains, containing clusters of genes required for virulence. The presence of this genetic element defines a new class of therapeutic targets for the treatment of life-threatening enterococcal infections.

Modulation of virulence within a pathogenicity island in vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis
NATHAN SHANKAR , ARTO S. BAGHDAYAN & MICHAEL S. GILMORE
Nature 417, 746–750 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature00802
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Gene hit makes microbe menacing