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StaphAseptic™ News
MRSA superbugs actually caused by widespread antibiotics use in the 1960s
March 31, 2010
Natural News
by E. Huff
A recent study published in the journal Science has concluded that the emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, also known as methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was caused by the widespread use of synthetic antibiotic drugs which began in the 1960s.
Scientists analyzed 63 samples of MRSA that originated from a bacterium lineage called ST239 that is responsible for a large percentage of MRSA outbreaks in hospitals all over the world. The samples, which researchers collected over a 20-year period between 1982 and 2003, mostly came from North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
The team identified a pattern of mutations throughout the course of the strain's evolution that illustrated its tendency to develop resistance to antibiotics. Utilizing a technique developed by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire that traces bacterial genetic codes, scientists were able to pinpoint the origins of the strain back to 1960s Europe, a time when widespread antibiotic use was just beginning to take hold in mainstream medicine.
Another aspect to the research was identifying how deadly bacterial strains are passed from person to person, hospital to hospital, and ultimately continent to continent. In order to accomplish this, scientists used a new technique that compares whole genomes with one another rather than isolated subsections of DNA code.
This is a portion of the original article. To keep reading, visit NaturalNews.com
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