mrsa-home – Department of Microbiology

MRSA & ONE HEALTH

Group of researchers from cross borders and discipline to track and tackle MRSA disease and carriage, elucidating their antimicrobial and biocide resistance, genetic diversity and transmission dynamics between humans, animals and the environment

Sharing is caring

Sharing the information is caring for the world to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

This platform aims to collaborate and share MRSA epidemiological information and genomic data to individual stake holders of interest. The platform will host details and tools to enable members to conduct genomic analyses of their MRSA strains

We also invite teams from around the world to participate in creating a global understanding of MRSA evolution and expansion. The information is crucial to levy the effort of infection control and antibiotic stewardship in all areas of human activities.

What is MRSA?

Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) is a common bacteria found on the skin and inside the nose of healthy people without causing any harm. It is generally easy to treat with antibiotics. Methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is S.aureus that has become resistant to many antibiotics, including methicillin. This means that the usual antibiotics used to treat infections caused by S.aureus no longer work against MRSA. Other commonly used antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin, amoxicillin and cephalosporins (generally referred as β-lactam antibiotics) has no effect on the bacteria at this stage. This implies any infection or symptoms due to MRSA would be more difficult to treat.

Similar to S.aureus, symptoms of MRSA include skin and soft tissue infection (e.g. boils), wound infection to more serious episodes of bloodstream infection and pneumonia, which can be lethal if not treated promptly. Infection can occur in the community (community-associated) and in hospitals (hospital-associated). MRSA is usually spread by direct contact with individuals and contaminated surfaces, thus good hygiene practice can help minimize the spread.

MRSA is not only a concern for humans, but can also affect animals. MRSA infection in livestock impacts animal husbandry resulting in major economic loss in the food industry. The bacteria can spread to human and vice versa causing life-threatening infection. This emphasizes the need for surveillance of MRSA in both human and animals in a One Health approach to understand how MRSA is transmitted between different hosts.

What is “One Health”?

One Health is a comprehensive and integrated approach that seeks to achieve a sustainable balance and optimization on the health of humans, animals and ecosystems. It acknowledges the relation and dependence among human health, domestic and wild animals, and the broader environment. This collaborative effort addresses health challenges such as the emergence of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety, while promoting the health and integrity of ecosystems and contributing to global health security.

Through the study of One Health, we hope to achieve the following sustainable development goals:

Animal

Poultry & cattle farms (Bangladesh & China)

Pigs (Hong Kong)

Pet animal (Sri Lanka)

Human

Poultry & cattle farms (Bangladesh & China)

Bacteremia patients (Hong Kong & Sri Lanka)

Environment

Farms (Bangladesh)

Farms & hospital (China)

Hospital (Sri Lanka)

mrsa & one health