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Staphylococcus aureus can cause multiple forms of infections ranging from superficial skin infections to food poisoning and life-threatening infections. The organism has several ways to divert the effectiveness of the immune system: secreting immune modulating proteins that inhibit complement activation and neutrophil chemotaxis or lysis, modulating the sensitivity to cationic antimicrobial peptides (such as defensin) by increasing the positive net charge of its cytoplasmic membrane, and expression of superantigens that prevent development of a normal immune response or cause an emetic response when ingested.
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Staphylococcus aureus infection - Reference pathway
