Pathogenicity of bacteria of the genus Staphylococcus

Abstract

Mnoge bakterije iz roda Staphylococcus su neopasne i nalaze se normalno na koži i mukoznoj membrani ljudi i nekih životinja. Iako je ovaj rod poznat po sposobnosti izazivanja bolesti, mnoge vrste bakterija iz ovog roda rijetko izazivaju infekcije. Najpatogenija vrsta stafilokoka je S. aureus, dok koagulaza negativni stafilokoki nisu jaki patogeni, ali imaju važnu ulogu u izazivanju infekcija kod visoko rizičnih osoba. Cilj ovog kratkog pregleda je bio proučiti kako stafilokoki postaju patogeni i na kakvom se mehanizmu temelji njihova patogenost. Stafilokoki uzrokuju mnoge bolesti u ljudi i životinja pomoću vlastite sposobnosti prodiranja i zbog proizvodnje toksina. Opisano je nekoliko potencijalnih faktora virulencije koji su bitni u izazivanju i odvijanju stafilokoknih infekcija. Danas se istražuje stvarna uloga tih faktora u patogenom potencijalu stafilokoka, a na temelju tih informacija farmaceutske tvrtke pokušavaju složiti vakcine koje bi djelovale protiv faktora virulencije i tako pomogle u obrani od bakterija iz roda Staphylococcus otpornih na antibiotike.Most bacteria in the genus Staphylococcus are harmless and reside normally on the skin and mucous membranes of humans and some organisms. Although the genus is known for the ability of some species to cause infectious diseases, many species rarely cause infections. Staphylococcus aureus is the most pathogenic species and coagulase-negative staphylococci are not highly virulent but are an important cause of infections in certain highrisk group. The objectives of this short review were to examine how bacteria in genus Staphylococcus become pathogenic and to examine the mechanisms of staphylococci pathogenicity. Staphylococcus can cause a wide variety of diseases in humans and other animals throught either toxin production or invasion. Several potential virulence factors have been described as important in staphylococcal infections. A number of investigators are now examing the exactly role in virulence of these factors and pharmaceutical companies are working to develop new vaccines on the basis of new informations about role of virulence factors, to kill drug-resistent strains of Staphylococcus