Scientists discover what causes death of strep throat in children and new mothers

A vaccine could be developed to prevent the deadly complications of strep throat, according to scientists, after discovering how the infection turned into a carnivorous disease.

Each year, more than 700 million people get sore throats from a group A streptococcus bacteria, which can be spread through sneezing, coughing, kissing and touching.

Most of the time, a dose of antibiotics disappears in a few days.

However, in some children – especially new mothers – it can progress to invasive Group A invasion, from throat to muscles, lungs and blood, and to deadly healthy tissue. times a year.

Experts warn that it is an increasingly urgent concern as we head towards a future where antibiotics are less effective.

However, a new study suggests the possibility of fighting deadly cases of streptococci: scientists have used artificial intelligence to sift through the largest dataset ever collected on the genome of group A streptococcus, their finally mapping the complex structure of the bacteria.

Group A streptococcal infection kills 500,000 people a year. Experts warn that it is a growing concern as antibiotics become less effective. But US scientists have studied the development of the bacteria – paving the way for a vaccine

"We have been studying this problem for over 100 years, as well as others, and we still do not have an effective vaccine against Group A Streptococcus," said Dr. James Musser, lead author of the Houston Methodist Hospital.

But AI has allowed the team to make "a significant step towards developing an effective vaccine to eradicate Group A streptococcus from the earth's surface."

He added, "One of the unexpected and exciting things we have discovered is the strategy used by Group A streptococcus to cause serious illness in humans.

"This new mechanism that we have discovered controls virulence and determines whether the body is just a pathogen or a truly angry flesh-eating pathogen.

"This discovery would not have been possible without this exceptionally large dataset available for analysis with artificial intelligence."

To do this, they examined the strain M28 group A streptococcus, which is the cause of a large number of invasive cases and a high incidence of infantile fever.

In many countries, it is one of the five most common strains of group A streptococci, causing serious invasive disease in humans.

He said: "Numerically, the M28s are very important causes of human infections. We wanted to gain new insights, because if you start to understand the processes of molecular pathogenesis, then you have the opportunity to develop new treatments and diagnoses.

"We are now able, through these very large data sets, to analyze them much more thoroughly and with different eyes than we have been before."

The strategy was adopted from a strategy commonly used in cancer research.

"History teaches us that the more we understand how cancer cells work, the more we can generate new ways to prevent them from causing human illness.

"Until 20 years ago, we did not understand most of the genetic changes that cause cancer.

"We now understand them in much more detail through in-depth research and analysis of cancer genes.

"With regard to cancer, you will understand that it will be very important not only to analyze an aspect, such as the genome of a cancer cell, but also to determine what proteins are made by the cancer cell and how cancer invades other areas of the body.

"We have been able to clearly point out new ways in which strain M28 of group A streptococcus causes infection, and this gives us a roadmap for understanding how this organism causes maternal sepsis.

"This vast knowledge that we have now gives us an idea of ​​how we could begin to tackle important downstream research, such as the development of a vaccine or a vaccine. 39, a new treatment to combat this organism and possibly eradicate it in the future. "

The study was published in the journal Nature Genetics.