NEW STUDY: MRSA BACTERIA APPEARED IN HEDGEHOGS LONG BEFORE THE USE OF METHICILLIN

Researchers from the Statens Serum Institute, University of Cambridge, Wellcome Sanger Institute and Aalborg University have shown that some of the most notorious and dreaded disease-causing microorganisms in humans - the special methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria - were present in hedgehogs long before , methicillin came on the market in 1959.

The discovery of antibiotics more than 80 years ago has led to major improvements in human and animal health. But every time a new antibiotic was used, the bacteria quickly responded by becoming resistant. Therefore, until now, it has been thought that resistance in disease-causing bacteria is a modern phenomenon driven by our use of antibiotics. However, it has been a big mystery how resistance could arise so quickly.

Now, however, a new study has solved part of the riddle. AAU's own hedgehog researcher, Sophie Lund Rasmussen, is a co-author of the scientific article that has just been published in the renowned journal Nature.

Read the scientific article in Nature:
Emergence of methicillin resistance predates clinical use of antibiotics

You can follow Sophie Lund Rasmussen's research into hedgehogs at SoMe here:

Reference Link:https://www.nyheder.aau.dk/2021/nyhed/nyt-studie--mrsa-bakterier-opstod-i-pindsvin-laenge-foer-brugen-af-methicillin.cid528848