Pathogenicity and virulence of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

Abstract

<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> is one of the most frequent worldwide causes of morbidity and mortality due to an infectious agent. This pathogen can cause a wide variety of diseases, ranging from moderately severe skin infections to fatal pneumonia and sepsis. Treatment of <i>S. aureus</i> infections is complicated by antibiotic resistance and a working vaccine is not available. There has been ongoing and increasing interest in the extraordinarily high number of toxins and other virulence determinants that <i>S. aureus</i> produces and how they impact disease. In this review, we will give an overview of how <i>S. aureus</i> initiates and maintains infection and discuss the main determinants involved. A more in-depth understanding of the function and contribution of <i>S. aureus</i> virulence determinants to <i>S. aureus</i> infection will enable us to develop anti-virulence strategies to counteract the lack of an anti-<i>S. aureus</i> vaccine and the ever-increasing shortage of working antibiotics against this important pathogen.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases US
• National Institutes of Health US

Related Publications