ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers discovered that a toxin released by bacteria causes severe bleeding in the lungs of patients with pneumococcal pneumonia.
University of Rochester Medical Center researchers say they believe they have discovered why a bacterial lung infection is so lethal in the early stages -- it is the bleeding, the authors argue, not inflammation as once thought, which makes the infections deadly.
Pneumococcus, also known as the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, infects about 500,000 people in the United States annually and kills about 40,000, said the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The study, published in the journal Immunity, said the medical establishment had for years believed that the breathing difficulty was brought on by inflammation -- the swelling and fluid build-up caused as immune system proteins rushed to the lungs to fight the infection, however, the study revealed that such inflammation was actually lower during the early time period when most people died.
"Our finding provides a better understanding of what makes a major global bacterial infection deadly, and marks the beginning of realistic efforts to save lives worldwide," senior study author Dr. Jian-Dong Li said in a statement. "The power of understanding this mechanism is that it not only suggests how better to treat this disease, but also that we should think twice about whether standard drug treatments are doing more harm than good."
