Infection Biology and Epidemiology of Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

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Staphylococcus aureus causes severe infections in healthy and compromised persons. In developed countries, S. aureus is a community or hospital acquired pathogen, and clones with broad antimicrobial resistance are nowadays widespread and limiting therapeutic options. Investigations on the distribution of the pathogen as well as on its genetic and biologic characteristics, however, are relatively limited to developed regions while in tropical areas with sparse resources such as in sub-Sahara Africa only limited data on the pathogen and its associated disease are available.First indications on the toxin equipment of isolates from Africa demonstrate that in these regions phylogenetic different lineages appear to be prominent. Accordingly, as its goal the African-German StaphNet intents by application of comparative analyses of African and German isolates both of clinical and commensal origin as well as by determination of host response to contribute to an enhanced understanding of mechanisms and course of disease. To this end, during the first funding period three African and five German research institutes and their affiliated hospitals have collected clinically well-defined S. aureus isolates from Western, Eastern, and Southern Africa as well as from Germany, and have analyzed these isolates with extended molecular methods. Apart from the demonstrated prevalence of the Panton-Valentine-Leukocidin also in isolates from remote indigenous African populations, the presence of isolates with resistance profiles typically for human colonizers even in non-human primates from sanctuaries has been a novel, unexpected result with potential wide-ranging implications. For the applied new funding period, additional detailed investigations of the now available >1000 staphylcoccal isolates and additional clinical material is planned. By application of modern genomic analyses in conjunction with gene expression and function assays, and supported by modern bioinformatic analysis, these investigations shall now reveal the importance of staphylococcal gene products and the mechanisms of humoral and innate immune defence which may be associated with onset and course of staphylococcal disease in Africa.The project heavily relies on a concept of bidirectional technology exchange and capacity building enabling both African and German partners to address (basic) research topics in staphylococcal biology and associated infectious disease under specific consideration of the conditions of such research in tropical countries with limited resources.