Preventing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections one day may be as simple as providing a simple probiotic regimen, suggests a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists and their colleagues in Thailand.
Researchers were surprised to find that the “good” Bacillus bacteria commonly found in probiotic digestive supplements helps prevent S. aureus from growing in the gut and nose of healthy people. The finding is important because although S. aureus can live in the nose or gut without causing any harm, it can cause serious infections if the skin barrier is broken or if a person’s immune system is compromised.
“Probiotics frequently are recommended as dietary supplements to improve digestive health,” said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “This is one of the first studies to describe precisely how they may work to provide health benefits. The possibility that oral Bacillus might be an effective alternative to antibiotic treatment for some conditions is scientifically intriguing and definitely worthy of further exploration.”
An existing strategy to prevent Staph infections is to eliminate S. aureus colonization. Some decolonization strategies are controversial, however, because they require considerable amounts of topical antibiotics and have limited success, partly because they target only the nose and bacteria quickly recolonized from the gut.
The scientists reached their conclusion by studying 200 volunteers in rural Thailand. They speculated that this population would not be as affected by food sterilization or antibiotics as residents of highly developed urban areas.
Read more about the study in the journal Nature.
