Treating Noses With Antibiotics Could Stave off Infections

Most hospital Staphylococcus aureus infections--best known for causing toxic shock syndrome--are caused when bacteria lodged in the noses of patients spread out of control, according to a study by German scientists in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. Their tests found that in five out of six cases, the bacteria that cause potentially deadly blood poisoning and that killed 82% of the hospital patients it infected before the advent of antibiotics, are identical to bacteria previously found in their noses.

The discovery gives doctors a new strategy for attacking the bacteria. In theory, patients who harbor the S. aureus bacteria could have their noses treated with antibiotics, reducing the likelihood that the bug will spread out of control.

*

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II