News Microbes

Drug-resistant bacteria evolved on hedgehogs long before the use of antibiotics

Fungi on the animals produce natural antibiotics that may have promoted the evolution of resistance

a European hedgehog next to a mossy plant

Workers at wildlife rescue centers swabbed the noses, skin and feet of hundreds of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus shown), revealing that many of the critters harbored a type of MRSA superbug.

Hrald/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Carolyn Wilke

Beneath the prickly spines of European hedgehogs, a microbial standoff may have bred a dangerous drug-resistant pathogen long before the era of antibiotic use in humans.