Vancomycin Resistant Golden Staph in Las Cruces
In a recent Journal of Clinical Microbiology article (J. Clin. Microbiol. 45:1325- 1329), New Mexico State University In a recent Journal of Clinical Microbiology article (J. Clin. Microbiol. 45:1325- 1329), New Mexico State University Ph.D. student Alejandro Delgado and mentor John E. Gustafson published on the discovery of a hetero-vancomycin intermediate resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (hVISA) isolated from a Las Cruces area medical center, the first discovered in the Paso Del Norte Region. Vancomycin is considered a "last stand" antimicrobial for the treatment of serious infections caused by S. aureus, which is the most important agents of hospital infections, causing more than 25% of the 2 to 4 million hospital born infections each year in the United States. The first vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus strains (VISA) were reported in Japan in 1997, and in 2002 vancomycin-resistant strains were isolated in US patients. hVISA strains produce subpopulations of VISA colonies upon exposure to vancomycin in vivo and in vitro. "My NMSU Ph.D. advisor John E. Gustafson was both excited and shocked by my discovery, and immediately suggested that we retest our isolates" said Delgado. "Since we have determined that numerous S. aureus strains isolated with the hVISA strain are clonal, in the future we hope to determine the mutations that lead to the hVISA phenotype using comparative genomic analysis," added Delgado. In addition, this work provides an important warning to physicians in our area who are experiencing no response in patients being treated for "golden staph" infections with vancomycin.
In 2003 Mr. Delgado was selected for a competitive
NMSU-National Institutes of Health
Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement
(NMSU-NIH-RISE) Scholarship thanks to an
award to NMSU Professor and interim Biology
Department Head Marvin H. Bernstein. "The
NMSU-NIH-RISE program is designed for minority
students and I have benefited immensely
from the help of the NMSU faculty
who have been awarded this grant from the
NIH,. said Delgado. "I have even stayed at
NMSU for my Ph.D. coursework and research
in part because of a good relationship with my
mentor Dr. John E. Gustafson, but also because
of the NMSU-NIH-RISE program." For
his undergraduate work, Mr Delgado was published
in the Journal of Applied Microbiology
(J. Appl. Microbiol. 98:364-372) and the Journal
of Clinical Microbiology (J. Clin. Microbiol.
43:2969-2972) and is now poised to publish
three more cutting edge articles with Mentor
Gustafson and the Gram-positive typing and
Research Laboratory in the Biology Department.
In addition, Mr Delgado has presented
his findings at the 105th, 106th and 107th
American Society for Microbiology General
Meetings.