Staph bacteria subverts the immune system

An article in Science Life explains how one of the persistent staph varieties manages to defend against the host’s immune systems. Staphylococcus aureus is a nasty bug that about 20% of people frequently have. A mutation in two genes allow the bacteria to cause the immune systems NETs to create a chemical that kills macrophages, white blood cells that would normally kill the bacteria. A very devious system.

Now that we know this, scientists can use this information to develop therapies that can fight against it. This will greatly help against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), which is antibiotic resistant.