Double-awakens dormant bacteria infection

together When two or more different pathogens in a body, the disease course are more difficult than just by a pathogen. Doctors refer to co-infection.
Thus, the outbreak of a latent tuberculosis for years, because the person has been infected with HIV. Meeting pneumonia bacteria on flu viruses, it may lead to treatment with certain antibiotics to destruction of lung tissue. The interaction of these pathogens and discuss implications for the treatment of this Wednesday to international experts in the Hamburg Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Flu viruses call out special reactions in the lung tissue. U.S. scientist Jonathan A. McCullers, this has been studied in mice. "Infections with influenza A viruses, the tissue damage so that there colonize bacteria such as pneumococcus and multiply, which has pneumonia with excessive inflammatory responses result," said co-organizer Prof. Ulrich Schaible from the Research Center Borstel in advance of the meeting.


In the experiments revealed that the antibiotic ampicillin, this reaction still fired and destroyed lung cells, leading to severe infections and lower survival rates. With other antibiotics, although they also inhibit the multiplication of bacteria but do not release their highly flammable material, significantly fewer animals had died. Will now be discussed according to Schaible, how these findings could improve the treatment of pneumonia.

Professor Schaible itself deals with tubercle bacteria. It is estimated that about one-third of the world population are carriers of these pathogens without the disease breaks out. "The immune system usually keeps them in check - it can break through with an immune deficiency such as HIV virus, tuberculosis," said Schaible. "What is surprising is that these patients can transmit the disease by coughing not as easy as patients without HIV - the immune system response in the lungs is obviously different."

"The immune system is highly complex, and an infection with certain pathogens have quite different effects, it can be seen for example in worm infections," said Schaible, who is also speaker of the Leibniz Center Infection (LCI) is. By hook worm disease, roundworms, whipworms, or the fluke, the cause of schistosomiasis concern, primarily people in poorer countries.

"An infection with these parasites triggers the formation of so-called IgE antibodies, resulting in allergic reactions also increased," said Schaible. Researchers, including at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute and Research Center Borstel, are now looking for worm proteins. The idea behind this is that these substances could potentially help people with allergies or chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

On the other hand, would cause the immune responses against worm infections that further reactions of the immune system to weaken, for example, was negative for the struggle of the white blood cells against tuberculosis bacteria. The susceptibility to malaria and HIV could be increased accordingly. On this subject, Schaible and colleagues have scientists from the Swedish Karolinska Institute invited.

The Leibniz Center Infection (LCI), which hosts the meeting, is a virtual merger of three North German institutes of the Leibniz Association. These include the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg and the Research Centre Borstel. The symposium on co-infection will run until Thursday.