One Health PhD Candidate Published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Marissa Valentine-King, a PhD candidate in the Department of Environmental and Global Health had her latest work, “Antibacterial Resistance in Ureaplasma species and Mycoplasma hominis Isolates from Urine Cultures in College-aged Females,” featured in a press release by the American Society of Microbiology after publication in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy this past August.  In this study, under the mentorship of Dr. Mary Brown, Valentine-King uncovered a rare mutation causing levofloxacin resistance in an Ureaplasma parvum urinary sample from a college-aged woman presenting with a first-time urinary tract infection (UTI).  Resistance in this organism is especially problematic as drugs typically used to treat UTIs, such as penicillin and Bactrim are useless against Ureaplasma due to its unique structure and properties.  The study is also the first of its kind to evaluate antibiotic resistance in Ureaplasma in this population.  Studies like this one can help physicians select appropriate treatments based on regional resistance profiles.  To read the full article click here.