Bacterial blood brain bypass

A team at Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale has identified a new mechanism that explains how meningococcus crosses the blood brain barrier. The researchers think the findings could be used to treat one form of meningococcal sepsis and may also have broader applications in delivering therapeutics into the CNS.

Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) is a bacterial pathogen that causes disease in about 1 in 100,000 people in the U.S. each year, primarily in children less than 1 year old. Although the disease is both rare and readily prevented with vaccines, researchers at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) have maintained interest in the bacteria's rare ability to bypass the blood brain barrier (BBB) and induce swelling of the brain...