Undiscovered new insights: How meningitis spreads

Meningitis is a life-threatening infection of the brain that is difficult to treat

Their findings, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens , are titled "Cryptococcus neoformans occluding blood vessels as a mechanism for hemorrhagic transmission of infection

The researchers write: "Meningitis caused by infectious pathogens is associated with vascular damage and infarct formation, however, the physiological cause is often unknown

"The brain has very sophisticated and effective defenses against microbes, but we've identified a simple and effective way to use microbes to escape the bloodstream into the brain

"Previous research has focused on how microbes can break down the brain's defenses or use immune cells as a route to the brain

"Our immune system is very effective at recognizing and destroying microbes, including those in the blood

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A-Star) in Singapore and the University of Queensland in Australia

The research team investigated zebrafish larvae to understand how meningitis infection behaves in blood vessels

"We started this study because we know that some patients with meningitis have unexplained vascular damage

The infection that causes meningitis can be treated with antibiotics, but patients tend to be severely ill and can cause a lot of damage before treatment is effective

The researchers found that their data suggest that panvascular vasodilation following infection, leading to increased vascular tone and in turn increased transmission events, represents a positive feedback loop

"We are using the knowledge we gain from studying how meningitis spreads to understand how to reduce damage to the brain during treatment," the researchers concluded