Bacteria 'killer' from Vietnam kills only after 1 day

Immunologists have discovered the mechanism of activating the "Vietnamese fever" pathogen, Burkholderia pseudomallei, into the brain and killing people quickly, just one day after infection. The discovery helps scientists extract vaccines against the disease each year that robs the lives of more than 90 million people in Southeast Asia, as commented in an article published in Immunity magazine.

Melioidosis tropical fever (also called Whitmore infections) ranks third in cause of death in South Asia and Southeast Asia, after tuberculosis and HIV. Regarding the development and symptoms, this disease is reminiscent of acute tuberculosis, even mumps. It is no coincidence that people call it "dangerous impostor".

Melioidosis can occur in two forms - acute and chronic.

Melioidosis can occur in two forms - acute , with 40% of deaths, and chronic , which American doctors call "Vietnam bombs". Many veterans of the Vietnam War were infected with the bacteria during the 1970s, but the first symptoms of melioidosis only felt when US soldiers returned home 10-20 years.

Specialist James St John from Griffith University in Brisbane (Australia) and his colleagues have confirmed the way in which this bacterium enters all body tissues, including the brain and spinal cord. , which has a protective barrier against such intrusion, but is within the first 24 hours after being infected.

Through mouse experiments, scientists discovered that the extremely unusual mechanism of Burkholderia pseudomallei is that the bacteria can quickly enter humans and animals by using sciatic nerves. cupping in the object's nasal cavity as a "highway", in which bacteria move toward the brain. Here, the infection does not stop, and the bacteria move further, through the spinal cord spreading throughout the body.

"Imagine you are outdoors and inhale the bacteria with spores hidden in the soil, then the next day it is localized in the brain and causing damage to the spinal cord. This bacteria can be very small inside. In the brain, the body simply doesn't know that in that critical place the "assassin" is hiding, Burkholderia pseudomallei can be hidden for many years, sinister waiting for the right time, or simply is that it causes brain damage slowly and that patients gradually lose themselves in parts , " said St. James. John explained.