Will You Be My Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Exotoxin?

02/14/12 • 10 min

In this episode, Dr. John Bartlett recaps the rise and fall of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) exotoxin as a suspect in high mortality and devastating infections related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The story starts in France and goes global, with a stop in the locker room of the St. Louis Rams football team! Find out why PVL is still important today.

Previous Episode

John Bartlett's Love for Medicine is Infectious

The first of a series of stories from Dr. John Bartlett, Associate Editor of the journal Medicine and former chief of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In this episode Dr. Bartlett talks about why he loves infectious diseases, how he got into the field as a young doctor, and what makes the field so exciting.

Next Episode

Pinning Down Pleural Effusion: Prelude to a Revolution

Dr. John Bartlett discusses the article “Systematic Use of Universal 16S rRNA Gene Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Sequencing for Processing Pleural Effusions Improves Conventional Culture Techniques." Exciting new molecular techniques are being developed that will be able to identify the total bacteriology of almost any specimen. The microbiology lab of the future will look very different; agar plates may be obsolete. Clinicians can look forward to getting an etiologic diagnosis within hours rather than days, leading to better targeting of antibiotic treatment. See ya, seaweed!