Research shows how bacteria keep ahead of vaccines and antibiotics

New research provides the first detailed genetic picture of an evolutionary war between Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and the vaccines and antibiotics used against it over recent decades.Large-scale genome sequencing reveals patterns of adaptation and the spread of a drug-resistant lineage ofthe S. pneumoniae bacteria. The study unmasks the genetic events bywhich bacteria such as S. pneumoniaerespond rapidly to new antibiotics andvaccines. The team suggest that knowingthe enemy better could improve infectioncontrol measures. S. pneumoniae is responsible for a broadrange of human diseases, includingpneumonia, ear infection and bacterialmeningitis. Since the 1970s, some forms ofthe bacteria have gained resistance to manyof the antibiotics traditionally used to treatthe disease. In 2000 S. pneumoniae wasresponsible for 15 million cases of invasivedisease across the globe. A new vaccine wasintroduced to the US in 2000 in an attemptto control disease resulting from the mostcommon and drug resistant forms of thebacteria. The new research uses DNA sequencing toprecisely describe the recent...