Study Finds 'Vampirism' In Deadly Bacteria That Has Thirst For Human Blood

Deadly bacteria have a taste for human blood, a new study has said. A team at Washington State University (WSU) found the phenomenon known as "bacterial vampirism" in which bacteria are attracted to liquid part of the blood, or serum. Such traits are found in bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli, which cause food illnesses, the study further said. It aims to shed light on why these microorganisms can move so deftly from the gut to the blood where they can be deadly.

The research has been published in the journal eLife.

"We learned some of the bacteria that most commonly cause bloodstream infections actually sense a chemical in human blood and swim toward it," Arden Baylink, a professor at WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine and a research author, told NBC News.

The team found that the bacteria seemed to be particularly drawn towards serine, an amino acid found in human blood that is also a common ingredient in protein drinks.

For the study, researchers simulated intestinal bleeding by injecting microscopic amounts of human serum and saw the bacteria navigate towards the source. The microorganisms took less than a minute to find the serum.

Bacteria like Salmonella have a special receptors on their surface that enables them to detect a specific chemical found in human blood, the researchers further found.

"By learning how these bacteria are able to detect sources of blood, in the future we could develop new drugs that block this ability," WSU PhD Student Siena Glenn and lead author of the study told the outlet.

The bacteria the researchers used for the study are called multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled "priority pathogens". These pathogens belong to a group of 12 bacterial families deemed the most significant threat to human health because of their antibiotic resistance, the WHO stated.