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BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS

Squirrel-killing Staphylococcus aureus

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 19, page 481 (2021)Cite this article

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Red squirrels are not only threatened by invasive grey squirrels but also by several infectious diseases, including fatal exudative dermatitis (FED), a poorly understood bacterial skin infection. To better understand the epidemiology and pathogenesis of FED, Fountain et al. sampled squirrels from the Channel Islands, where FED occurs, and from two UK control islands without the disease. Similar to previous studies, the authors found that Staphylococcus aureus clone (ST49) harbouring the LukM toxin is found in squirrels with FED whereas healthy squirrels or squirrels with other skin diseases carried other clones or no S. aureus. Interestingly, healthy squirrels from the Channel Islands did not carry ST49 either, indicating that this clone is highly virulent once acquired. Comparison of squirrel strains with strains in other hosts indicated that squirrels often acquire S. aureus through spillover from other hosts, including small ruminants, birds and even humans, and for ST49 bank voles are the potential reservoir.

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References

Original article

  • Fountain, K. et al. Fatal exudative dermatitis in island populations of red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris): spillover of a virulent Staphylococcus aureus clone (ST49) from reservoir hosts. Microb. Genom. 7, 000565 (2021)

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Ursula Hofer

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  1. Ursula Hofer
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Correspondence to Ursula Hofer.

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Hofer, U. Squirrel-killing Staphylococcus aureus. Nat Rev Microbiol 19, 481 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00591-y

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