With the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance, there is a growing need for new treatment strategies against life threatening bacterial infections.
With the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance, there is a growing need for new treatment strategies against life threatening bacterial infections. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen may have identified such an alternative treatment for bacterial meningitis, a serious infection that can lead to sepsis. The study is published in Nature Communications.
Our immune system has several important defenders to call on when an infection affects the central nervous system. The researchers have mapped what happens when one of them, the white blood cells called neutrophils, intervene in bacterial meningitis.
If there is an infection, the neutrophils deploy to the infected area in order to capture and neutralise the bacteria. It is a tough battle and the neutrophils usually die, but if the bacteria are difficult to eliminate, the neutrophils resort to other tactics.
Read more at Lund University
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