Scientists have discovered a new variant of streptococcal bacteria that has contributed to a rise in disease cases...

Scientists have discovered a new variant of streptococcal bacteria that has contributed to a rise in disease cases in the UK over the last 17 years.

Group A streptococcus causes around 600 million infections per year worldwide. Severe infections can cause necrotising fasciitis, pneumonia, sepsis, or toxic shock, and around one in four people who suffer an invasive infection do not survive.

Researchers at Imperial College London and clinicians at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, together with colleagues at Public Health England, noticed a sharp rise in infections caused by one particular strain, called emm89, from 1998 to 2009. To investigate why, they sequenced the genomes of bacterial samples from patients.

The genetic sequences revealed a new subtype of emm89 streptococcus whose emergence coincided with the surge in cases.

Japan, Canada, France and Sweden have reported a surge in the same strain type, raising the possibility that the new variant is spreading globally.

Source and further reading:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/icl-sfn071515.php

Image:
streptococcus under the microscope

CREDIT
(Nicola N Lynskey, Imperial College London/David Goulding, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute)

#medicine   #research   #emm89   #strep