Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive bacterium. When pathogenic S. aureus colonises onto a skin wound or diabetic ulcer, it can cause a serious infection and lead to amputation or death. The current solutions (e.g. antibiotics and probiotics) are not sufficient enough to be a cure for this infection. To worsen the situation, the S. aureus bacteria continue to develop greater resistance towards antibiotics and are becoming more commonplace. An effective solution is to amplify the activity of probiotic bacteria in the skin microbiome by using selective fermentation initiators (SFIs) to induce fermentation. Our data demonstrated that the numbers of Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis), two major bacteria in skin microbiome, on human skin did not vary significantly over the span of seven days. This stimulates probiotic bacteria such as S. epidermidis to produce sufficient short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) to suppress the growth of S. aureus. The development of this new cure to S. aureus may reduce hospitalisation greatly as S. aureus accounts for the hospitalisation of more than five thousand people per year. Besides antibiotic, probiotics and bacteriophages, SFIs may become novel agents for treatment of infection.

金黄色葡萄球菌（S. aureus）是革兰氏阳性细菌。当致病性金黄色葡萄球菌定植在皮肤伤口或糖尿病性溃疡上时，会引起严重的感染并导致截肢或死亡。当前的解决方案（例如抗生素和益生菌）不足以治愈这种感染。更糟的是，金黄色葡萄球菌继续对抗生素产生更大的抵抗力，并且变得越来越普遍。一种有效的解决方案是通过使用选择性发酵引发剂（SFI）诱导发酵来放大皮肤微生物组中益生菌的活性。我们的数据表明痤疮角质杆菌（C. acnes）和表皮葡萄球菌（S. epidermidis）（皮肤微生物组中的两种主要细菌）在人类皮肤上的变化在7天之内没有明显变化。这会刺激益生菌，例如表皮葡萄球菌，产生足够的短链脂肪酸（SCFA），从而抑制金黄色葡萄球菌的生长。金黄色葡萄球菌的新疗法的开发可能会大大减少住院，因为金黄色葡萄球菌每年需要住院五千多人。除了抗生素，益生菌和噬菌体，SFI可能成为治疗感染的新型药物。