tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
A recent study published in the July issue of the Journal of Immunology helps explain why some humans contract bacterial super-infections like pneumonia with influenza. The research was led by Le Bonheur Pediatrician-in-Chief Jon McCullers, MD ? an infectious disease specialist who is also chair of the Department of Pediatrics for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and adjunct faculty at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"It's been known that the influenza virus does something to suppress host immune function, which can facilitate development of deadly secondary bacterial pneumonias," said McCullers. "But we haven't known what that was or why it happens."
McCullers' research ? conducted at his National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by UTHSC graduate student Hazem Ghoneim, a PhD candidate -- used advanced techniques to differentiate types of alveolar macrophages found in the lungs and airways. Researchers found that of the three types identified, only one is truly capable of fending off secondary bacterial infection. This population of macrophages, labeled the resident alveolar macrophages, is depleted during a flu infection.
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http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2013072303190010.html
"It's been known that the influenza virus does something to suppress host immune function, which can facilitate development of deadly secondary bacterial pneumonias," said McCullers. "But we haven't known what that was or why it happens."
McCullers' research ? conducted at his National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by UTHSC graduate student Hazem Ghoneim, a PhD candidate -- used advanced techniques to differentiate types of alveolar macrophages found in the lungs and airways. Researchers found that of the three types identified, only one is truly capable of fending off secondary bacterial infection. This population of macrophages, labeled the resident alveolar macrophages, is depleted during a flu infection.
...
http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2013072303190010.html