A scientists team from the University of Sheffield have discovered that the human pathogen named Staphylococcus aureus especially MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) uses non-threatening bacteria in the skin to initiate infection.

Simon Foster, the lead author and Professor of Molecular Microbiology from the University of Sheffield, said "We harbour a vast array of bacteria as microflora in our guts and on our skin so understanding this combination of pathogen, native microflora and host provides new avenues for approaches to prevent and treat infection; A lot of people have been trying to develop a vaccine against the potentially life-threatening virus for a number of years without success; This study has shown how a potentially fatal disease like MRSA gains access to our bodies and how the organisms are able to survive inside immune cells -- phagocytes."

Professor Foster further added "All infectious disease starts from an environment of mixed bacteria and other material so this might have much wider ramifications; The study has important implications for the disease because with our work we can drop the infectious dose by over 1,000 fold. Importantly, S. aureus is not a dominant member of our bacterial flora and so this study can explain how relatively few pathogenic bacteria can crowdsource from the other organisms present on our skin to allow it to set an infection that may ultimately prove fatal. It alters the way that we view how infection occurs, the way it should be studied and sets the scene for how it might be tackled."