Researchers from ITQB NOVA, in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur in Paris, have shed light on the mechanisms that allow Clostridioides difficile, a pathogen that can only grow in oxygen-free environments, to be able to survive low oxygen levels. C. difficile is a major cause of intestinal problems associated with the use of antibiotics, causing an estimated number of 124k cases per year in the EU, costing on average 5k€ per patient, as a direct consequence of healthcare-associated contagion. Particularly pathogenic varieties of C. difficile are an important cause of high prevalence infections in health care environments and will keep hindering the ideal use of antimicrobial therapy unless these mechanisms are understood more rapidly than these organisms evolve.
Click here for original story, How bacteria survive low oxygen environments
Source: Phys.org