Are bloodstream leukocytes Trojan Horses for the metastasis of Staphylococcus aureus?

Bacteraemia caused by Staphylococcus aureus infections can lead to life-threatening metastatic infections. Thwaites and Gant propose that neutrophils form a privileged site that is poorly accessible to antibiotics and that plays an important part in transporting the bacteria to distant sites. Staphy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature reviews. Microbiology Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 215 - 222
Main Authors: Thwaites, Guy E., Gant, Vanya
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2011
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
631/250/2504/223/1699
631/326/22/1290
631/326/41/2534
692/699/255/1318
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Antibiotics
Bacteremia - microbiology
Bacteria
Bacterial infections
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Catheters
Distribution
Drug therapy
Health aspects
Humans
Infectious Diseases
Leukocytes
Leukocytes - microbiology
Leukocytes - physiology
Life Sciences
Medical Microbiology
Metastasis
Microbiology
Neutrophils
opinion-2
Parasitology
Pathogens
Phagocytes - microbiology
Prostheses
Protection and preservation
Risk factors
Staphylococcal Infections - drug therapy
Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus - metabolism
Staphylococcus aureus - pathogenicity
Staphylococcus aureus infections
Staphylococcus infections
Virology
Virulence
Virulence Factors - metabolism
United Kingdom
ISSN:1740-1526, 1740-1534, 1740-1534
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:Bacteraemia caused by Staphylococcus aureus infections can lead to life-threatening metastatic infections. Thwaites and Gant propose that neutrophils form a privileged site that is poorly accessible to antibiotics and that plays an important part in transporting the bacteria to distant sites. Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia remains very difficult to treat, and a large proportion of cases result in potentially lethal metastatic infection. Unpredictable and persistent bacteraemia in the face of highly active, usually bactericidal antibiotics is the strongest predictor of death or disseminated disease. Although S. aureus has conventionally been considered an extracellular pathogen, much evidence demonstrates that it can survive intracellularly. In this Opinion article, we propose that phagocytes, and specifically neutrophils, represent a privileged site for S. aureus in the bloodstream, offering protection from most antibiotics and providing a mechanism by which the bacterium can travel to and infect distant sites. Furthermore, we suggest how this can be experimentally confirmed and how it may prompt a change in the current paradigm of S. aureus bacteraemia and identify better treatment options for improved clinical outcomes.
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ISSN:1740-1526
1740-1534
1740-1534
DOI:10.1038/nrmicro2508