AN ANTIBODY which causes MRSA bacteria to explode rather than divide brings hope for a universal vaccine.
MRSA is a highly antibiotic-resistant form of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus which kills about 20,000 people in the US alone each year. Although a small number of antibiotics work against MRSA, the bacterium continually evolves resistant strains.
and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York have identified an antibody which targets a protein in MRSA called glucosaminidase (GMD). This has a key role in breaking down the cell wall, enabling the bacterium to divide.
The…
