Therapy suggested for rare brain infection

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Therapy suggested for rare brain infection

Published: May 10, 2010 at 12:51 PM

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/05/10/Therapy-suggested-for-rare-brain-infe\

ction/UPI-71781273510301/

CALGARY, Alberta, May 10 (UPI) -- A team of Canadian medical researchers says it

has found a possible new therapy for Cryptococcus disease -- a rare but serious

brain infection.

University of Calgary scientists said the disease results from inhaling a toxic

fungus often found in fir trees and can result in meningitis, pneumonia and in

10 percent of cases it can be fatal.

Little is known about how the fungus leaves the bloodstream and enters the

brain, however, Drs. Meiqing Shi and Mody and their team used a

mouse model to determine a class of therapeutic drugs already approved for other

medical uses could stop the fungus from crossing the brain blood barrier and

therefore reduce brain infection.

" While the therapy was tested in mice, we do think it could ultimately

transition to humans, " said Mody, a professor of medicine and the study's senior

author. " The class of drugs we used in the study is already approved for use in

humans for other conditions. "

There are 37 different species of Cryptococcus, with one of the highest rates of

infection in the world occurring on Vancouver Island in Canada, Mody said.

The study that included Kubes, director of the university's Snyder

Institute for Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, appears in the Journal of

Clinical Investigation.