Professor Francois Balloux

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major problem in hospitals.   Since the 1950s, MRSA lineages have been replacing each other all over the world.  Here, we investigated one such lineage replacement that took place over the last 20 years in China.  Our result suggest that the replacement is not driven by antibiotic resistance or a differences in the ability of lineages to persist in the environment. Instead, it may be largely driven by the presence of a virulence gene in the more successful MRSA strains.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13073-021-00992-x