Staphylococcus Aureus Infection

Dear Colleagues,

The recent WHO report, ‘Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance’ highlights the epidemic of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus as a particular threat to society. Antibiotic resistance is a global crisis, which urgently requires alternative strategies to standard antibiotic therapy.  There is an immediate unmet clinical need for an anti-S. aureus vaccine. Despite major efforts and significant financial investment by drug companies, an anti-S. aureus vaccine still eludes us. One of the critical factors impeding progress towards an efficacious anti-S. aureus vaccine has been an insufficient understanding of how this organism interacts with the host and in particular a paucity of insight into S. aureus immune mechanisms in humans. Compounding matters is S. aureus propensity for immune evasion. Novel therapeutic strategies will be required to disarm these immune evasion strategies, thus, promoting host immunity against infection. To-date, all vaccine candidates have worked on the premise of inducing protective anti-S. aureus antibodies. However, recent studies have revealed the importance of T-cells in coordinating phagocytic cell function and promoting bacterial clearance. It is now widely accepted that protective immunity to S. aureus requires a contribution from both cellular and humoral immunity. It is clear that any future success towards realizing an efficacious anti-S. aureus vaccine or the development of alternative immunomodulatory therapies against S. aureus will require that we increase our understanding of how this organism interacts with the host. For this Special Issue of Pathogens we invite you to submit a review article/original research article related to S. aureus host-pathogen interactions, and look forward to your contribution.

Dr. Rachel McLoughlin
Guest Editor

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