Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

A study by the Sanger Institute makes the papers today, including the front page of "Metro", which I don't usually read, but which did catch my eye.

This microbe ("new hospital superbug"), also known as pseudomonas maltophilia, likes wet areas like shower heads and taps, and IV drips, and can affect hospital patients who have lung diseases, cystic fibrosis, or who are on chemotherapy. It usually colonises, rather than infects, and to infect must bypass normal host defences.

Here are some links:

The story in the Guardian
Emedicine
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
Sanger Institute project to sequence genome of S. maltophilia
Information on cysticfibrosis.com

And the map of the genome referred to in the Guardian story is in this:

Crossman LC et al. The complete genome, comparative and functional analysis of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia reveals an organism heavily shielded by drug resistance determinants. Genome Biology 2008 Apr 17;9(4):R74 http://genomebiology.com/2008/9/4/R74

Not sure immediately where the figure of 1000 reports of "steno" blood poisoning a year come from: if you know, you can leave me a comment!