- Victoria Gill
- Science Journalist, BBC
Image source, PIA B HANSEN
Hedgehog
As a result of the conflict between the fungi and the bacteria in the skin of the hedgehogs, a bacterial species called MRSA Superbug has evolved naturally to be antibiotic-resistant.
This bacterium developed in hedgehogs in nature long before the known antibiotics were discovered.
An international research team has found that the common skin fungus in hedgehogs naturally produces antibiotics.
Bacteria in the skin of wildlife have developed the ability to act against the antibiotics that develop in it.
Their findings, published in the journal Nature, show that this particular superbug bacterium appeared about 200 years ago through natural biological processes, without the aid of antibiotics.
A specific bacterial type called mecC-MRSA was first detected in dairy cows. The use of antibiotics in dairy farms is thought to have contributed to the development of resistance against those antibiotics.
However, this is a very rare example of a naturally occurring ability to act against antibiotics. Furthermore, the findings “represent a small fraction of the risks associated with the overuse of antibiotics in the human medical environment,” one of the leading researchers, Professor Mark Holmes of the University of Cambridge, told the BBC.
One of the 200 types of MRSA infections that can be transmitted to humans is caused by a bacterium called MecC-MRSA. Excessive use of antibiotics continues to drive the emergence of other pathogenic strains of antimicrobial activity in both humans and farm organisms.
This study has solved the long-standing mystery about the origin of this particular type of MRSA bacterium, which was discovered ten years ago by veterinary scientists at the University of Cambridge.
Image source, CLAIRE L RAISEN
In the center of the plate in the picture, the fungus forms antibiotics.
“We tried to figure out how much of a problem this was. So, when we looked at wildlife and farm animals, we found that it was more prevalent in nature. In particular, when we looked at hedgehogs, half of the animals we sampled had this type of MRSA,” Professor Holmes explained.
Together with biologists, wildlife researchers and hedgehog rescue centers across Europe, the scientists focused their research on hedgehogs.
“As there are a lot of these bacteria capable of antibiotics, we wanted to know what’s special about hedgehogs,” explained Professor Holmes.
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, studied more than 1,000 bacterial specimens from wildlife throughout Europe. They developed a genetically based chronology. This revealed that strains of antimicrobial activity had developed in European hedgehogs in the early 1800s, long before antibiotics were even used clinically.
“The fungus that grows in hedgehogs releases penicillins. Bacteria must be resistant because if they want to live in hedgehogs, the bacteria must resist the antibiotics they produce,” says Pera.Homes.
This “arms race,” which originated in the skin of hedgehogs, is a natural example of what Alexander Fleming saw when he discovered penicillin in 1928 at the bacterial breeding ground. He noticed that no bacteria could live near the fungus on his plate.
Antibiotic resistance: an infection that starts quietly
- The ability to resist antibiotics is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development today.
- It occurs naturally. But, it also speeds up the process of misuse of antibiotics in humans and wildlife.
- Treatment is becoming more difficult as the effectiveness of antibiotics used to treat growing infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea and salmonellosis is declining.
Source: World Health Organization
This study is part of a series of efforts by these scientists to understand where antibiotic-resistant bacteria are most concentrated, how they are expressed, and how their functions pose the greatest threat to humans.
“It is hoped that the overuse of antibiotics in dairy farms will not cause the spread of this type of MRSA bacteria among the population. But that does not mean that we should relax the rules on the use of antibiotics,” said Holmes.
“Hedgehogs are not the only ones carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria. All wildlife carries a wide variety of bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses,” he said.
“Wildlife, livestock and humans are all interconnected. We all share the same ecosystem. Until you look at the whole ecosystem, you can not fully comprehend the full evolution of antimicrobial activity.