According to researchers, there are some staph germs circulating in communities and hospitals that produce a poison that can kill pneumonia patients within 72 hours.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria – staph for short – can pass one another the gene for the poison and seemingly is swapping it more often, the researchers report in the January 19th issue of the journal Science.

The poison, called Panton Valentine leukocidin or PVL, can cause pneumonia and kill healthy tissue in otherwise healthy people.

Luckily, people who are infected with the bacteria quickly develop a high fever that alerts doctors that something more is wrong, said Gabriela Bowden of the Texas A&M Health and Science Center in Houston, who led the study.

“This is a scary situation. We are trying to put the word out and to educate people about it,” Bowden said in a telephone interview.

S. aureus is the number one cause of hospital-acquired infections, and can cause heart problems, toxic-shock syndrome and meningitis.

The new strain is resistant to the common antibiotic methicillin, but can be treated with other antibiotics such as doxycycline and vancomycin.

In December, a MRSA outbreak in a British hospital killed two patients with a new type of pneumonia called necrotizing pneumonia. The infection destroys lung tissue and kills immune system cells that are meant to battle it.

“The pneumonia is very severe”, Bowden said. “There is massive inflammation and there is fluid in the lungs and there is damage to the tissue. It can progress very quickly and in 72 hours the patient can be in a severe condition, or it can even be lethal in 72 hours.”

The bacteria, which commonly live on the skin and regularly cause pimples, boils and other minor infections, can cause a serious wound if the poison-producing strains get into a cut.