How and why does Staphylococcus aureus target humans?
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| I wish I could swim like a dolphin |
Researchers from Vanderbilt in the December 16 Issue of Cell Host & Microbe have reported the discovery of the mechanism by which S. aureus preferentially binds human hemoglobin in it's search for the iron necessary for proliferation. The authors suggest that perhaps variation in human hemoglobin explains why some people are not likely to be colonized/infected and others are.
The comment made in the NY Times article about being higher up on the evolutionary scale is a risk factor for S. aureus attraction to hemoglobin seems a bit dubious. For example, most of us think dolphins are at the highest level of evolutionary ladder and they weren't studied from what I can tell. ;)
NY Times article
Pishchany G et al. Cell Host & Microbe, December 16, 2010
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