Super new disease threatens those 'sweet-smelling'

Clostridium difficile, a intestinal pathogen that leads to dangerous dehydration, is transforming into two species, including a highly toxic species and a preference for sweet and good people.

The team from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the London School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (UK) examined the differences of 906 Clostridium difficile strains from humans, animals and the environment in 33 countries and found dangerous bacteria. This danger is evolving in a worrying way.

Clostridium difficile bacteria are evolving into 2 new species, including an extremely scary species, who like to attack sweet people and threaten to create a new "super disease"

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that attacks the intestinal tract , causing severe diarrhea, causing severe dehydration and depression. In this new study, scientists discovered they are developing into two distinct new species, including an extremely powerful species that can live well in the environment and even strong antiseptics. the hospital cannot kill.

More worrisome, this powerful new species evolved to live well in the gut of "sweet" people . It has genetic changes compared to the original species, so "easier to raise" than the ancestors, can eat simple sugars. Therefore, the sugar-rich diet of "sweet-smelling" people will lend a hand to this powerful bacterium.

It is worrisome that with the popular industrial-style diet along with the proliferation of sugar-rich foods and beverages, the number of "sweet-smelling" people in the community is increasing.

Not to mention, changes in genes also help the new generation Clostridium difficile with much greater resistance to common disinfectants, including hospital disinfectants, making it highly infectious, threatening threatening to form "super disease". This characteristic raises concerns that it could be a new drug-resistant virus.

According to Professor Brendan Wren from the London School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, this suggests that it is worrisome that other dangerous pathogens can also grow and adapt to changes in human lifestyle and regimes. health care.

This research has just been published in Nature Genetic.