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Breakthrough in the fight against dysentery…
Researchers at INSERM in France recently discovered that Shigella, a bacterium responsible for causing acute intestinal inflammation, destroys our immune defences. This is an important discovery as it is this bacterium that is responsible for bacillary dysentery – also known as shigellosis – which is one of the most severe forms of diarrhoeic disease.
Every year across the world, almost a million people die as a result of diarrhoeic diseases, most of them children under the age of 5. The problem most severe in sub-Saharan Africa. But now the team led by Philippe Sansonetti has unmasked the strategies used by the Shigella bacterium to counteract our antimicrobial protection.
The team is now conducting research to find treatments that will stimulate our antimicrobial defences. This research programme offers new and encouraging possibilities for treatment, not only for shigellosis but also for many other infectious or inflammatory diseases of the intestine.
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