Possible MRSA Treatment Found By USF Researchers

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Researchers at the University of South Florida believe they’ve made a breakthrough that could lead to successful treatment of MRSA infections, which are responsible for thousands of deaths annually.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a drug-resistant type of bacteria that has, until now, been quite difficult for medical professionals to treat with any degree of success.

USF Associate Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology Dr. Lindsey Shaw and graduate student Whittney Burda recently earned a U.S. patent for their antibiotic compounds that are proving effective in treating these hard-to-cure infections, USF News reported.

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“We’ve been working on a class of compounds, the chemical name is quinazoline, and we’ve developed novel versions of these which seem to work against MRSA, which kills tens of thousands of people every year and causes hundreds of thousands of infections,” Shaw was quoted by USF News as saying. “They work not only against MSRA, but also Acinetobacter, which affects troops in the Middle East and is another bacteria that causes a lot of problems, kills a lot of people, is very drug resistant and hard to treat.”

MRSA infections are linked to an estimated 5,500 deaths a year in America, according to a report written by CNN in 2014.

With a patent now in hand, the compounds are entering preclinical testing, USF reported.

“If they continue to clear the hurdles as they do, they are quite promising,” Shaw was quoted as saying.

It is unclear how soon the compounds might be given a green light for use on the general market.

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