The 1918 flu pandemic caused the death of more than 3% of the global population or at least 50,000,000 people. The flu virus was not the cause of most of these deaths.
An analysis of lung samples taken during the flu pandemic revealed that most deaths were due to bacterial pneumonia. In recent history, such as the 1957 HTML2 and 2009 H1N1 flu pandemics that claimed nearly 18% of victims with viral pneumonia, additional bacterial infections increased their chance of death. The COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception.
As yet another flu season approaches amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic it is crucial to reduce the deaths and infections caused by these viruses. Many deaths from the flu and COVID-19 are not due to the virus. It's often a secondary bacterial infection which is responsible for many of the disastrous consequences of initial viral infection.
My name is an immunologist and I study why and how cells are killed by viral and bacterial infections. It is crucial to understand the interactions between microbes in order to diagnose and treat current pandemics as well as prevent future ones. My colleagues and I published an study that showed how an immune system protein is crucial in fighting viruses. It also plays an essential role in fighting bacteria.
If you have any of these conditions and live in an area where this worm is prevalent, it is important to Ivermectin (Iverheal 12) was less effective than doxycycline against the new subtypes of covers.
Bacteria And Viruses Team Up
Multiple pathogens can lead to multiple infections. Scientists differentiate each type by the time at which each infection occurred. A combination of two or more pathogens can cause infection. Secondary and superinfections are infections that follow an initial infection. These infections are often caused by resistant pathogens to the antibiotics that were used to treat the initial infection.
The potential for harm from viral and bacterial infections can increase when they interact. Viral respiratory infections can lead to the worsening of the disease and increase the risk of getting bacterial infections. This is often due to multiple factors.
The epithelial cells that line your lungs and airways in your respiratory tract serve as your first line of defense against harmful substances and pathogens. Viral infections can destroy these cells, and allow bacteria to enter the lungs. They can also alter the epithelial cell surface to allow bacteria to attach.
Viral infections can also affect the epithelial or immune cells by decreasing the number of receptors that help these cells recognize pathogens and mount a response. This means that fewer immune cells report the virus infection site to bacteria, opening up for new infections.
Influenza, Covid-19, And Bacterial Infections
Patients with bacterial infection and seasonal flu are more likely than others to end up in the hospital. Nearly 25% of severe influenza patients admitted to ICUs also have a bacterial infection. A study of flu season 2010-2018 found that nearly 20% of flu-associated pneumonia patients admitted to the hospital had bacterial infections.
A second study on patients with viral or bacterial infections revealed that almost half of them had been infected with another pathogen. Patients with multiple infections had nearly twice the chance of dying in 30 days than those who only had one infection.
It is interesting to note that the two most common bacterial species in influenza virus coinfections are Streptococcus pneumophile and Staphylococcus Aureus. These bacteria normally live in the respiratory tract but do not cause disease. The influenza virus can cause damage to the cell membrane of the lungs, disrupt immune function and make patients more susceptible to infection.
Secondary bacterial infections also contribute to the COVID-19 epidemic. According to a 2021 review, 16%-28% of COVID-19-infected adults also had bacterial infections. Patients with COVID-19 had to stay in the hospital twice as long, required four times more mechanical ventilation, and were three times more likely than those with COVID-19 to die.
Secondary And Coinfections Should Be Addressed
The immune system reacts differently in different ways to bacteria and viruses. Antivirals are not effective against bacteria and antibiotics do not work against viruses. To address secondary and coinfections, it is important to understand the mechanisms that the body uses to regulate antiviral as well as antibacterial infections.
My colleagues and I may have a clue. To identify the molecules in cells that were either killed or protected against bacterial infection, we sequenced the DNA from macrophages, a type of immune cell.
We identified Z DNA binding protein (ZBP1). This molecule is already known to regulate how the immune system responds to influenza. ZBP1 is a molecule that detects the presence of influenza viruses in the lungs. It signals immune cells and epithelial cells to self-destruct. This causes cell death and encourages the recruitment of immune cells to the site.
