To study the evolutionary history of USA300, a hypervirulent community-acquired methicillin-resistant sequence type 8 (ST8) Staphylococcus aureus lineage found worldwide, researchers used whole genome sequencing and analyzed 224 ST8 isolates of S. aureus, and report that the ancestor of ST8 S. aureus likely emerged during the mid-19th century in Central Europe and arrived by the early 20th century in North America, where it acquired USA300 characteristics and subsequently spread globally.
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Article #17-02472: "Origin, evolution, and global transmission of community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus ST8," by Lena Strauß et al.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences