Scientists in Glasgow, London and Cambridge are studying new and emerging strains of the bacteria Clostridium difficile with the aim of understanding the increase of infection over the last ten years.
Glasgow University's biomedical research centre has been given £502,142 from the Wellcome Trust to research new forms of C.diff.
The team at Glasgow are working in partnership with Professor Brendan Wren of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Professor Gordon Dougan at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge.
Dr Gillian Douce, senior lecturer at Glasgow University, said in a statement: "Patterns of infection of C.diff are changing. There are strains of this pathogen emerging that are more aggressive than others. The aim of the project is to understand how and why these strains have become more virulent.
"We hope that by gaining a much greater understanding of how the organism causes disease, we will be able to design more effective drugs and vaccines that can be used in the treatment and prevention of this horrible infection. Ultimately, we hope we can get a grip on C.diff and reduce its incidence.
C.diff bacteria occur naturally in the intestines of nearly three per cent of the adult UK population. The effects of the bacteria are worse in elderly and hospitalised patients who can suffer from chronic diarrhea, which can kill.
This infection is most dangerous to those patients whose immune systems are already compromised. It often follows antibiotic treatment, when the "friendly" bacteria in the gut are killed, leaving the intenestines susceptible to colonisation by C.diff.
C.diff is easily spread throughout hospitals by contact with contaminated hands and surfaces. The spores of the organism are robust and resistant to many traditional cleaning agents.
The team at Glasgow are to study the genes of the more aggressive strains of the bacteria to understand where theses virulent strains have come from and whether they are still evolving to be even more dangerous.
As a result of the study it is hoped new methods to "fingerprint" the bacteria will allow doctors to quickly identify those patients infected with aggressive strains.
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