Bacterium goes from the mouth to the heart to cause disease
The human mouth can have more than 700 different species of bacteria. Under normal circumstances these microbes co-exist as part of our resident oral microbiota but when they spread to other tissues via the blood stream, the results can be catastrophic. Researchers from the University of Bristol have revealed a potentially key molecular process that occurs in the case of infective endocarditis, a type of cardiovascular disease in which bacteria cause unwanted blood clots to form on heart valves. If untreated, this condition is fatal and even with treatment, mortality rates are high. There are over 2,000 cases of infective endocarditis in the United Kingdom (UK) annually and the amount is rising. The research involved the use of the UK national synchrotron facility, Diamond Light Source. Using this giant X-ray microscope the team was able to visualise the structure and … Read more