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Staphylococcus borealis has been shown to be resistant to many different types of antibiotics, which could create major issues for the elderly.
A study team at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø found a previously undiscovered bacterium in 2020. You might be familiar with Staphylococcus aureus (golden staph), but this one is from the white kind.
The new species, discovered in Tromsø, Northern Norway, was called Staphylococcus borealis (S. borealis) after the northern lights.
Published in Microbiology Spectrum, scientists investigated bacterial samples kept in freezers at various Norwegian hospitals.
The samples dated back to 2014, and the scientists ran new tests to determine whether they could find the novel bacterium in the older samples. New samples coming to the UiT lab from 2020 to 2024 were tested constantly in the meantime. The study team ultimately gathered and examined 129 samples from seven Norwegian healthcare facilities.
S. borealis proves resistance to more than three different types of antibiotics in one-third of the instances it was examined.
Furthermore, this bacteria seems to be quite good at obtaining defensive strategies from other bacterial types. This indicates that, when treated with the drugs already available, it could possibly acquire antibiotic resistance quickly.
Living on human skin, S. borealis is a bacteria that researchers have shown can cause issues if your immune system is compromised. This is especially troubling for elderly people and for people who have had hip or knee surgeries.
As an opportunist, this bacterium can make you ill if your immune system is weakened. For instance, it may establish biofilm around knee prosthesis and cause infections that are challenging to treat.
Researchers are now trying to identify which illnesses this bacterium might bring about. Early results point to possible urinary tract infections as well as inflammation in implant-bearing sites.
Researchers are aware that it causes mastitis in dromedary camels. They shared the genetic profile of the bacterium in worldwide databases, which other scientists use to compare their own bacterial discoveries, thereby explaining this. Additional possibilities might so arise.
Sources:
Jorunn Pauline Cavanagh et al. (2025). Revealing the clinical relevance of Staphylococcus borealis, Microbiology Spectrum. DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01988-24
Antibiotic resistance discovered in newly identified bacterium. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-antibiotic-resistance-newly-bacterium.html
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