New bacteria discovered living in patient at London hospital

Doctors discovered bacteria after patient was admitted to St Thomas' hospital with fever
Scientists have discovered a new species of bacteria living within a patient at a London hospital (File picture)
PA Wire
Daniel Keane22 January 2024

Scientists have discovered a new species of bacteria living within a patient at a London hospital.

The patient, who works as a shepherd in Canterbury, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital with fever but blood tests could not confirm the origin of the bacteria causing his infection.

Researchers at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas NHS Trust used a special tool called a nanopore sequencer to read long, single sequences of the bacteria's DNA at speed.

They found that the bacteria was a new species of Variovorax—a group of bacteria that lives in the soil.

Analysis of the bacteria's chemistry and genome confirmed it as a new species, never before seen by the scientific community.

The patient named the new species Variovorax durovernensis, after the Latin name of Canterbury where they live.

It was discovered in the patient's aorta — the main artery of the body's circulatory system that pumps oxygenated blood from the heart.

Lara Payne, Specialist Registrar at St Thomas' Hospital, said that the patient may have become infected during the lambing season or while feeding the sheep anti-parasite medications without gloves.

Nanopore sequencing allows clinicians to identify unusual bacteria more quickly as the equipment can be provided directly to hospitals, instead of the more time-consuming process of sending samples to specialist laboratories for analysis.

This allows doctors to provide patients with more targeted treatments and prevent serious illness, researchers said.

Dr. Luke Blagdon Snell, a clinical research fellow at King's, said: "As this (nanopore sequencing) technology becomes more widespread, we will probably discover more new microbes and uncover new ways they interact with our bodies and cause infections."

The authors note that "atypical infections" from environmental microbes are increasing, particularly among patients on immunosuppressive therapy

The scientists' discovery was published in the journal Clinical Infection in Practice.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in