Dear Colleagues,

Staphylococci are pathogens causing a vast array of infections with significant mortality in humans. These organisms can infect virtually any tissue of the body. Moreover, they readily grow on artificial surfaces of implanted devices such as prosthetic heart valves and intravascular and urinary catheters. They were designated as a “persistent pathogen” due to their unusual recalcitrance towards antibiotic treatment, which to date has remained a major clinical challenge. Current antibiotics present a reduced capacity to eradicate staphylococci in abscesses or implant infections without surgical support . Physicians choose antibiotics according to a strain’s MIC as determined with susceptibility tests in vitro. However, antimicrobial therapy frequently fails despite susceptibility in standard microbiological assays. Emerging evidence indicates that the ability of staphylococci to become antibiotic-tolerant through versatile physiological changes within their host represents a major microbiological reason for the high rate of treatment failure. The application of “omics” technology to investigate staphylococcal physiological change mechanisms during infections helps us to understand the triggers of increased antibiotic survival in the context of various types of infection and life forms of the staphylococci. Due to a growing awareness of increased antibiotic survival, a great deal of research has turned its focus to new ways of treating and eradicating tolerant staphylococci. However, more studies are needed to better understand the dynamics, mechanisms and relevance of tolerant staphylococci at the site of infection and advance the fight against one of mankind’s enduring foes. This Special Issue seeks manuscript submissions that further our understanding of advanced Staphylococci antimicrobial tolerance, persistent infection and antimicrobial strategies.

Prof. Dr. Lei He
Prof. Dr. Xiancai Rao
Prof. Dr. Yan Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• staphylococcal infection
• persistent pathogen
• implant infection
• biofilm
• antibiotic tolerance
• SCV
• phenotypic tolerance
• persister
• antimicrobial strategies
• genomics
• within-host evolution