A larger genetic inventory may help explain how certain dangerous bacteria can persist in a hospital environment and continue to infect patients, according to a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A larger genetic inventory may help explain how certain dangerous bacteria can persist in a hospital environment and continue to infect patients, according to a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In their paper published on Thursday, researchers including Dr. Jeffrey McLean of the UW School of Dentistry describe their discovery that three closely related species of bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae outlived all other oral bacteria in a long-term starvation or “doomsday” experiment.
“A number of species from that family are known to cause infections in hospitals,” said Dr. Xuesong He, an associate member of staff at the Forsyth Institute of Cambridge, Mass., and co-author of the study. Other team members were from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the J. Craig Venter Institute of La Jolla, Calif., and Rockville, Md.
More than 200 different bacterial species live inside your mouth. Some are highly abundant, while others are scarce. A few of these oral bacteria are known pathogens, which can cause disease. However, most are harmless or even beneficial.
Read more at University of Washington
