SEM of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii growing together in a biofilm. Credit: Lucie Semenec, Macquarie University
Key points:
- A new study characterizes the teamwork two deadly superbugs use to make each other even stronger.
- Studies have found that the pathogens co-exist in about 40 percent of all hospitalized patients.
- The research highlights an urgent need for improved screening for mixed infections especially in hospital settings.
A new study finds that the world’s most deadly and drug-resistant pathogens use teamwork to become more powerful and infectious.
In a new study, Lucie Semenec and researchers from Macquarie University and University of Newcastle have characterized the mutually beneficial relationship between Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii—the microorganisms responsible for pneumonia, urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections.
The Nature Communications study outlines how Klebsiella feeds Acinetobacter through its metabolic by-products. In return, Acinetobacter protects Klebsiella from high concentrations of drugs through the antibiotic-degrading enzymes that it secretes.
“We have found that they have a mutually beneficial relationship to one another that enables Klebsiella to survive in antibiotic concentrations significantly higher than it can on its own,” said lead researcher Lucie Semenec.
The study investigated two strains previously co-isolated from a single lung infection and examined them using multiple screening and analysis mechanisms, from microscopy to genomics and infections in living organisms.
Co-lead author Amy Cain, associate professor of Macquarie University, says the research highlights an urgent need for improved screening for mixed infections, especially in hospital settings. Previous studies in both the U.S. and Europe have Klebsiella and Acinetobacter co-existing in about 40 percent of all hospitalized patients.
“It’s important to understand that together these bugs are more infectious, more resistant to treatment and they feed off each other,” she says.