Superbugs Often Move between Humans and Animals
Published:13 Sep.2018 Source:News Medical
The MRSA staphylococcus is an example of a pathogen, the likes of which are often called superbugs. These are resistant to most antibiotics and can cause serious infections.
"In the case of MRSA, these bacteria also spread in hospitals almost world-wide," says Jukka Corander, professor at the University of Helsinki. In their extensive study, the researchers sequenced whole genomes of the superbugs from a large sample from different animals as well as humans, and were able to study the DNA changes that helped the bacteria to adapt to new host organisms during thousands of years.