Curing Yeast Infections in Hospital Patients Using a Pathogen
May 8, 2010 Frank Parker
Researchers may have found a cure for yeast infections in hospital patients. And they used another cause of hospital acquired bacterial infection to do so.
One of the agents that cause hospital-acquired infections associated with medical implants is also the common cause of thrush yeast infection, Candida albicans. This fungus is present in and on all of us. Normally it doesn’t cause a problem unless a patient’s resistance is lowered. It can also thrive on plastic surfaces, which is why it sometimes causes problems for patients with catheters, pace-makers or prosthetic limbs.
Pathogen Resistant to Most Antibiotics
The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is also very common, existing in soil and pond water. Again, humans are normally resistant to infection by this pathogen but it is extremely resistant to most antibiotics. When patients whose immune systems are compromised – for example as a result of undergoing treatment for cancer or because they have AIDS – come in contact with P. aeruginosa then almost any part of the body can succumb to serious infection. (Kenneth Todar, Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology, accessed 8 May 2010)P. aeruginosa also causes serious problems in patients with cystic fibrosis or burns. So it is quite surprising to find that this deadly pathogen could lead to a cure for hospital acquired yeast infections. But that is what researchers at University College Cork have found, as reported in the May 2010 edition of Microbiology. ("Fighting fungal infections with bacteria," University College Cork Latest News, Accessed 8 May 2010)
The team discovered that molecules produced by P. aeruginosa bacteria were able to hinder the development of C. albicans ‘biofilms’ on silicone, when the yeast cells clump together on the surface of the plastic. This biofilm formation is a key aspect of C. albicans infection and is problematic as biofilms are often resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them.
Designing Drugs to Destroy Yeast
The team was led by Dr John Morrissey who said, “Candida albicans can cause very serious deep infections in susceptible patients and it is often found in biofilm form. It is therefore important to understand the biofilm process and how it might be controlled.”It is not the intention to introduce the bacterium directly to medical equipment carrying the yeast biofilm. Rather, researchers believe that understanding the mechanism by which the bacterium interacts with the yeast to destroy it will help them to design drugs that can be used to disperse the biofilm after it forms or that might be incorporated in the plastic to prevent biofilm formation on medical implants.
“The next steps are to identify the chemical that the bacterium produces and to find out what its target in the yeast is. We can then see whether this will be a feasible lead for the development of new drugs for clinical application,” according to Dr Morrissey.
Dr Morrissey is a lecturer in UCC’s College of Science, Engineering and Food Science where his team conducts research into sensing and signalling in yeasts. His work includes seeking ways to exploit yeasts and fungi in industrial applications for biotechnology.
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