A point mutation in the genome of the pathogenic bacterium enabled it to penetrate the brain and cause inflammation of its membranes, namely meningitis. This has been shown by a study published in the journal. iScience.
Biologists studied a type of pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) isolated from samples taken from patients with meningitis. It turned out that the bacterium had a mutation that caused an amino acid in the pneumolysin protein to be changed. This increased its ability to damage nerve cells in the brain. This feature distinguished the species from less pathogenic ones.
Discovery of how pneumococcus enters the brain will help find a cure for meningitis, where 70 percent of survivors live with permanent neurological impairments, including motor, mental, auditory, visual and intellectual impairments.
Before that scientists was created nasal drops to deliver medication to the brain. They successfully tested the system on mice with meningitis.
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