沙门氏菌脑膜炎 z-bo 2020-12-03 339

　　Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have established a method in mice to study the potentially life-threatening meningitis caused by Salmonella. Bacterial meningitis occurs in a bacterial infection of the central nervous system (CNS), causing serious illness, potentially life-threatening, and difficult to diagnose and treat. Patients who often survive have permanent brain damage.

　　 Salmonella typhimurium is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness in the United States, often causing self-limiting gastrointestinal (GI) infections. However, in people with impaired immune responses, Salmonella typhimurium can cause serious systemic infections and spread to other organs through the blood. In some cases, bacteria spread to the CNS, causing meningitis. People at risk include young and elderly people, people with advanced HIV/AIDS, and people with sickle cell disease. Salmonella meningitis is rare in the world. It is now one of the most common bacterial meningitis in parts of Africa, with a very high mortality rate.

　　 NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) researchers used oral infections with Salmonella typhimurium to mimic food-borne infections. They found that Salmonella moved from the gastrointestinal tract to the bloodstream and then to the brain, causing meningitis. The damage observed in the brains of Salmonella-infected mice is similar to the damage observed in human meningitis, providing a new model for studying human diseases.

　　Collaborators include Salmonella experts, neuroimmunology experts and biologists from the University of Colorado at NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratory. They plan to use the model to determine how Salmonella typhimurium infects and causes damage in the brain, including which immune cells. They will also use the model to study potential treatment options to prevent Salmonella from entering the CNS or reduce damage in meningitis.