2008 Press Releases
Turning bad bugs into good bugs
22.09.2008
UCC microbiologists have unearthed important clues on how the food-poisoning bacteria Listeria monocytogenes causes disease.
22.09.2008
UCC microbiologists have unearthed important clues on how the food-poisoning bacteria Listeria monocytogenes causes disease.
This bacteria causes a life-threatening infection known as listeriosis and is the number one cause of deaths arising from the consumption of contaminated food with immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, the elderly and newborns at particularly high risk.
The researchers, Dr Paul Cotter and Professor Colin Hill and colleagues in UCC, Teagasc and the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, have shown that some strains of Listeria monocytogenes produce a toxic factor, which is the first of an extended family of such factors previously thought to be found only in Group A (and related) Streptococcus, the bacteria responsible for 'Strep throat', impetigo, necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease) and toxic shock syndrome.
In addition to identifying this new toxic factor, this new research has shown it to be present exclusively in a subgroup Listeria monocytogenes strains which is responsible for the majority of spontaneous and epidemic outbreaks of listeriosis and is likely to be a key contributor to the disease in humans.
Dr Cotter explains "The identification of this toxic factor represents a significant breakthrough in Listeria research. Scientists have tried for over twenty years scientists to determine why some Listeria monocytogenes are more dangerous than others. Now, for the first time, a factor which may explain this phenomenon has been identified. These findings have even broader implications for the research of disease causing-bacteria in general as initial investigations indicate that these toxic factors may be much more widely distributed than had previously been thought. "
This research will be published shortly in the journal Public Library of Science PLoS Pathogens.
845MMcS
Picture shows L-R: Dr Paul Cotter and Professor Colin Hill
The researchers, Dr Paul Cotter and Professor Colin Hill and colleagues in UCC, Teagasc and the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, have shown that some strains of Listeria monocytogenes produce a toxic factor, which is the first of an extended family of such factors previously thought to be found only in Group A (and related) Streptococcus, the bacteria responsible for 'Strep throat', impetigo, necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease) and toxic shock syndrome.
In addition to identifying this new toxic factor, this new research has shown it to be present exclusively in a subgroup Listeria monocytogenes strains which is responsible for the majority of spontaneous and epidemic outbreaks of listeriosis and is likely to be a key contributor to the disease in humans.
Dr Cotter explains "The identification of this toxic factor represents a significant breakthrough in Listeria research. Scientists have tried for over twenty years scientists to determine why some Listeria monocytogenes are more dangerous than others. Now, for the first time, a factor which may explain this phenomenon has been identified. These findings have even broader implications for the research of disease causing-bacteria in general as initial investigations indicate that these toxic factors may be much more widely distributed than had previously been thought. "
This research will be published shortly in the journal Public Library of Science PLoS Pathogens.
845MMcS
Picture shows L-R: Dr Paul Cotter and Professor Colin Hill