Staphylococcus aureus is a wide-spread pathogen that can be acquired from the community or in hospitals. Though serious infection is uncommon in healthy and young individuals, it can cause septic arthritis, pneumonia and endocarditis amongst other diseases and carries a high mortality rate despite treatment. Importantly, S. aureus can also be resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore, increased understanding of the interaction of the pathogen and its host may lead to new control regimes. Previous research has shown that a combination of various bacterial components are able to interact with the host immune system and cause septic shock leading to death. The aim of this project is to determine the S.aureus components that are responsible for causing immune activation in the host. In the long-term this will benefit the development of novel anti-infection strategies. |
The Team
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