Immune system may prevents MRSA infection

Researchers at Johns Hopkins, the University of California, Davis, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have discovered how the immune system might protect a person from recurrent bacterial skin infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (staph). "There's a huge, unmet clinical need for new approaches against staph skin infections because of declining antibiotic development and rising drug resistance," says Lloyd Miller, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Staph is a common bacterium and the most common cause of skin infections in people. Additionally, multidrug resistant strains, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), are causing severe skin infections in healthy people outside of hospitals. And once you've had an infection, the recurrence rate is 50 percent within six months. Staph can also spread from the skin and cause invasive and life-threatening infections such as sepsis, osteomyelitis and pneumonia.

Using mice with defective immune systems, research team found that after an initial exposure of the skin to staph, they were surprisingly protected against a second skin exposure with the same bacteria. After testing for antibodies and other usual suspects of the immune system against this infection, it was not clear what immune response was protecting the mice. The researchers then tested a drug FDA-approved for treatment of multiple sclerosis, which acts by preventing certain immune cells from leaving lymph nodes for sites of inflammation.

That genetic sequencing data revealed that specific cells substantially multiplied after the initial infection, then moved to the infection site and provided protection against the second infection. These so-called gamma delta T cells account for less than 1 percent of all the cells in the lymph node prior to infection. After infection, they accounted for more than 20 percent.

Working with collaborators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, the researchers tested blood from healthy individuals and people with a rare immune disorder that makes them highly susceptible to staph skin infections. Half of people with the disorder die by age 10, but if they survive to adulthood they somehow overcome their susceptibility to staph infections.

In blood samples from these patients, the researchers found an increase in the percentage of gamma delta T cells, similar to what they observed in mice, which remained stable over years. The findings and especially gamma delta T cells may be targeted for developing new therapies or a vaccine against staph skin infections.

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Changes in mother's bacteria causes premature birth

A study of hundreds of women, carried out at Imperial College London, found that subtle changes to the bacteria present in the vagina were strongly associated with the mother's waters breaking early and preterm birth-the baby being born before 37 weeks. According to the researchers, the findings show that a shift away from the usual healthy balance of vaginal bacteria was associated with waters breaking early, and could have an impact on the health of mother and baby, including increasing the risk of sepsis for newborns.

During pregnancy babies are protected inside the amniotic sac, with the surrounding membrane rupturing as part of the normal birthing process when the mother's 'waters break' as a precursor to labour. However, when this occurs before 37 weeks, termed premature rupture of membrane (PPROM), the baby is likely to be born prematurely. After the membranes rupture, the baby remains without the protective membrane and is at increased risk of infection - as the vaginal bacteria spread upwards to the placenta and uterus. In order to reduce this risk, the women whose waters have broken early are given intravenous antibiotics.

Researchers from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology (IRDB) at Imperial looked at the impact of premature rupturing of the membrane and antibiotic treatment on the vaginal microbiota, taking swabs from the vaginas of pregnant women at different points during their pregnancy and analysing them to reveal the types of bacteria present, their proportions and any changes.

Samples were collected from a prospective group of 250 pregnant women with and without risk factors for giving birth prematurely - such as having a history of preterm birth or miscarriage - of which 27 did in fact have a premature birth. They also collected samples from a second, smaller group of 87 women who presented to hospital with premature membrane rupture.

Previous research has shown that over the course of pregnancy the bacteria that colonise the vagina become less diverse and are dominated chiefly by Lactobacillus species, the same type of bacteria found elsewhere in the body including the gut and mouth. Analysis of the team's samples revealed that premature membrane rupture was associated with a shift in microbiota, with a drop in Lactobacillus and an increase in other types of bacteria, including potentially harmful bugs such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.

The team also analysed samples from the small group of women with premature rupture before and after the preventative antibiotic treatment - oral erythromycin, four times a day for 10 days. Swabs were taken before treatment and then at 48 hours, one week and two weeks. For those women whose microbial makeup was dominated by Lactobacillus before the treatment, the antibiotics resulted in a decline in Lactobacillus and a greater diversity of bugs. However, in those women with reduced Lactobacillus to begin with, the treatment was beneficial in some, reducing the amount of potentially harmful bacteria as well.

The study also revealed associations between specific vaginal bacteria and newborns who developed sepsis following delivery. While the mothers of healthy babies were dominated by Lactobacillus, samples from the mothers of newborns with sepsis revealed a greater diversity of bacteria, including the presence of Streptococcus and E. coli.
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Nanoparticles can limit inflammation

An injection of nanoparticles may boost the immune system when it becomes weak. Inflammation is a double-edged sword. When it works, it helps the body heal and fights off infections. But sometimes, the immune system overreacts. An acute lung injury, sustained by inhaling smoke, for instance, can lead to runaway fluid production that essentially drowns a person.

Experiments in mice suggest that simple plastic nanoparticles, delivered by IV, may be able to keep a type of immune cell called a neutrophil too busy to cause inflammation. Other diseases in which neutrophils cause excessive inflammation include sepsis and the hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis.

Researchers designed an experiment injuring part of the blood vessel wall in the microfluidic chips and confirmed that the neutrophils were redirecting their attention from creating inflammation at the injury site to carting the foreign particles away. In mice with acute lung injury, they found that injecting nanoparticles by IV could reduce the number of neutrophils congregating at the injury site by half or more.

The neutrophil concentration was similar to the concentration found in the blood of uninjured mice. Instead, the neutrophils were taking the particles to the liver, where they could be removed from circulation. The chemicals that the team uses to attach the nanoparticles to the blood vessel walls are the same as those used by the neutrophils themselves, a coating that combines nonfouling materials with the targeting chemicals will throw most white blood cells off.
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Vitamin D enhances healing of burns

Patients with severe burns who have higher levels of vitamin D recover more successfully than those with lower levels. Despite improvements in burn care many patients are still at risk of poor recovery. Complications can range from delayed wound healing through to infections. Patients with severe burns are at high risk of infection that may lead to life-threatening sepsis.

Vitamin D is known to have antibacterial actions that may combat infection and therefore aid in wound healing of burn patients. In order to investigate the role of vitamin D in recovery from burn injuries, researchers assessed the recovery progress, over one year, in patients with severe burns and correlated this with their vitamin D levels.

The study found that patients with higher levels of vitamin D had a better prognosis, with improved wound healing, fewer complications and less scarring. The data also showed that burns patients tend to have lower levels of vitamin D. These data suggest that vitamin D supplementation immediately following burn injury may have potent health benefits to the patient, including enhanced antimicrobial activity to prevent infection, and improved wound healing.

Major burn injury severely reduces vitamin D levels and adding this vitamin back may be a simple, safe and cost-effective way to improve outcomes for burns patients. The effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation to improve outcomes in burn patients would need to be verified in clinical trials.

Low vitamin D levels were associated with worse outcomes in burn patients including life threatening infections, mortality and delayed wound healing . It was also associated with worse scarring but vitamin D levels can improve the healing process.
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Are you at risk of bloodstream infections?

Serious bloodstream infections are common among smokers who are obese and inactive. The bloodstream infection is known as sepsis. People who develop sepsis are at risk of death from the infection.

Smoking combined with obesity and sedentary lifestyle can lead to blood poisoning. People with those three factors are at higher risk of sepsis than non-smoking, normal-weight and active people.

Body mass index is the estimate of body fat based on height and weight measurements. A BMI below 25 is considered normal weight, and anything over 30 is considered obese.
People with a BMI between 30 and 35 have increased risk of Sepsis.

Smoking increases the risk by 50 percent when compared with people who never smoked. And being completely inactive was tied to a nearly doubled sepsis risk, when compared with those who exercised strenuously for at least an hour a week.

Obese people may die from sepsis. People with a BMI of 40 or more have increased risk of dying from the infection. Regular exercise and avoiding smoking can reduce the risk of blood stream infections.
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Treat sepsis with vitamins C

Sepsis is a progressive disease process caused by an aggressive and dysfunctional immune response to an infection in the bloodstream. Illnesses like bronchitis, pneumonia and kidney infection can turn septic.

 Sepsis starts with symptoms of an infection, the condition can progress to septic shock, which may be lethal.
Lack of vital vitamins in the body can increase the risk of Sepsis.

Chronic diseases like AIDS, cancer, diabetes, lung, kidney and liver raises the risk of Sepsis. Being exposed to
infection-causing bacteria in health centers can also increase the risk of Sepsis.

The condition can leads to extremely low blood pressure that is unresponsive to fluid replacement, weakening of the heart and multiple-organ failure if treatment is delayed.

Steroid hydrocortisone, intravenous   (IV) vitamin C, thiamine (vitamin B-1) can be used to treat Sepsis. Vitamin C
prevents and treat infectious diseases.
Thiamine is required for metabolism of some of the metabolites of vitamin C. It
reduces the risk of renal failure and mortality.
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Sepsis sieve can save your life

Sepsis occurs  when an infection like blood poisoning sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs.

Antibiotics can control the infection if it is discovered early to avoid spreading to different parts of the body. A machine that 'sieves' the blood could save people sepsis infections.

The device has been created by a British scientist, it works like a dialysis, the
blood is removed – but in this case it is cleaned of dangerous microbes using magnets.

The machine is to undergo the first human clinical trials next year and is also being tested for use against blood-borne diseases such as malaria and leukaemia.

Designed to be used by intensive care units, blood is removed from veins in the patient's arm and enters the machine, where magnetic particles are added.

These are designed to seek out and bind to the dangerous bacteria that cause sepsis as well as little floating scraps of endotoxins that causes septic cascade.
Once bonded together, they are caught by a powerful magnet and the 'cleaned' blood is then returned to the body.

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