Staph’s Panton-Valentine Toxin Causes Lung Damage

Panton-Valentine leukocidin might be a major virulence factor in pneumonia caused by community-acquired MRSA.

Community-acquired infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), including strains that produce the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin, have become common in recent years. Although the focus has been on skin and soft-tissue infections, fulminant pneumonias also can be caused by MRSA. New data link PVL production to severe lung injury.

A team of investigators from Houston and Lyon, France, used MRSA strains (isolated from patients with necrotizing [PVL-positive] or non-necrotizing [PVL-negative] pneumonia) to infect the lungs of mice. PVL-positive, but not PVL-negative, strains caused marked inflammation and lung damage and yielded a mortality rate of 35% to 80% within 24 hours of inoculation. Mice that received onl…

Reviewing Author

Bradley E. Britigan, MD

Staph’s Panton-Valentine Toxin Causes Lung Damage

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Reviewing Author