Researchers say they can obtain a view of spreading infections nearly in real time

Jun 15, 2012 14:58 GMT  ·  By

A collaboration of scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, and Illumina may have come up with a way of tracking the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a superbug that cannot readily be killed by existing antibiotics.

The group demonstrated that using high-speed, whole-genome sequencing techniques can reveal the evolution of bacterial cultures nearly in real time. Having access to this type of data will go a long way towards enabling doctors to better handle patient management.

“The purpose of our study was to see if whole genome sequencing of MRSA could be used to distinguish between related strains at a genome level, and if this would inform and guide outbreak investigations,” Cambridge expert and lead study author, Sharon Peacock, says.

If you're interested in learning more about this study, a paper detailing the findings can be found in the latest issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).