The origins of a ill-famed bacterial superbug can be traced back to hedgehogs that lived centuries ago , new research this calendar week suggests . The study constitute grounds that one particular type of methicillin - immune Staphylococcus aureus , also known as MRSA , first emerged on the skin of hedgehogs . The bacteria in all probability evolved resistance in response to fungus also living on hedgehogs that naturally produced antibiotic compounds to kill off their competitors — long before man start using antibiotic drugs to treat these infection .
MRSAis one of the most well - known examples of antibiotic resistance . The term refers to any strains of S. aureus that are resistant to beta - lactam antibiotic drug — a class of antibiotic that admit methicillin but also many other drugs , including penicillin . S. aureus strains , including MRSA , live naturally on our peel and elsewhere , typically without causing hassle . But when these bacteria do cause illness , often among people hospitalized or in poorer health , MRSA infections can be much harder to get rid of with conventional treatment and can deform deadly .
Scientistsdiscoveredthe universe of MRSA almost forthwith after methicillin became the standard drug of selection for staph infections in the 1960s . But it was n’t until the 1990s that MRSA became wide known , as rate of infirmary - related cause climbed and deform spreading between mass outside of hospitals begin to emerge . There has beensome progressin staunch the lunar time period of MRSA within hospital since then , though this progress may have slowed down in recent years . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that almost 120,000 Americanscontractedserious bloodstream infections of MRSA in 2017 , while most 20,000 break as a result .
A woman handles a hedgehog on the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show near Harrogate in northern England on 16 April 2025.Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP (Getty Images)
The widespread use of antibiotic in music and agriculture since the forties has fostered the emergence of drug - resistant infections , including MRSA . But a few eld ago , scientist made a curious uncovering : porcupine living inSwedenandother European countriesseemed to widely carry a form of MRSA bonk as mecC - MRSA . mecC - MRSA is intend to cause only a sliver of MRSA infections in human , and while other animals have been document to carry it , pace of settlement were much higher in these hedgehog ( around two - thirds had it ) . This lead scientist at the time to theorize that hedgehogs have been a instinctive host for mecC - MRSA for at least decades .
This novel research , publishedin Nature on Wednesday , has found transmitted grounds that this timeline proceed back much further . An external group of researchers from the UK , Denmark , Sweden , and elsewhere , include some of the first to document mecC - MRSA in hedgehogs and other brute , collaborated for the study . They sequence the genomes of hedgehog MRSA strains and compared them to other S. aureus strains in ordination to build a likely family tree .
Near as they can tell , the origin that first gave ascent to the hedgehog - refer MRSA we see today began in the nineteenth century , about 200 year ago . The team also found that a common fungus living on hedgehog skin , sleep together as Trichophyton erinacei , can produce two different types of beta - lactam antibiotic drug . And in the lab , hedgehog MRSA strains did look better able-bodied to hold out against these antibiotics than other strains .
All told , the findings paint a picture as old as clip .
“ Our subject area suggests that it was n’t the purpose of penicillin that push the initial issue of MRSA , it was a natural biologic process . We think MRSA germinate in a conflict for survival of the fittest on the peel of hedgehogs , and subsequently spread to livestock and man through direct contact , ” said aged study author Ewan Harrison , a researcher at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge and a senior author of the study , in astatementfrom Cambridge .
mecC - MRSA infections in humans are rare and are typically balmy and well handle with other antibiotics when they do happen . So even though these bacterium may have occasionally nauseate us over the past 200 years , the findings should n’t make us trepid of hanging out with hedgehogs , the authors say .
But they do illustrate that the humans is a minor and more connected place than we might recollect . Because most antibiotic we habituate today are derived from innate sources , this may not be the only example of significant antibiotic impedance that has survive prior to the antibiotic era of medicine . And we already know that antibiotic resistancefoundin other animals can have serious health consequences for man . That said , while some animals may play host to their own native superbugs , ourcontinued overuseof antibiotic in livestock also toy a major , if not lead , persona in causing this resistor .
“ These result underscore the grandness of engage a full One Health perspective on antibiotic resistance that recognizes the persona of natural selection in waste animals and the connectivity of natural , agricultural and human ecosystems in the evolution and spread of antibiotic - resistant pathogens , ” the researchers wrote .
Bacterial diseasesHealth
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