Scientists Find Bacteria Where It Isn’t Supposed to Be: The Brain

[mzmolly]

As anyone who’s seen a yogurt commercial knows, our guts are teeming with bacteria. So, too, are our hands, feet, ears, and mouths.



But our brains?

Until recently, scientists would have said no way. The brain was long thought to be a kind of fortress, separated from the body by a virtually impenetrable barrier of specialized cells. Now, that view is beginning to shift, with increasing evidence that aliens can, and do, sneak in.

The latest evidence comes from a team of researchers in Canada, who found that a type of bacteria usually found in soil may make its way into some of our brains.

That possibility is “a mind-bending concept,” said Kathy Spindler, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the new work. If confirmed, the study would “upset the dogma that the brain is normally a sterile site,” said Vincent Young, an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist also at the University of Michigan. If living bacteria help to maintain brain health in some way, disruptions to them, for example from antibiotics, could contribute to disease. (In other parts of the body, disruptions to native bacteria may play a role in some asthma, food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, and even obesity, he added.)....

More at: THE DAILY BEAST

[donco]

1. Only in

repug brains though.

[KT2000]

2. for every human cell

we all have 10 bacteria. Some hlep and some hinder.
Research done on people with chemical sensitivity has shown that the tight junctions inside the nose are compromised in these people. The cells are no longer tight. The possibility of this is that they allow passage of contaminants into the brain through the olfactory bulb.

[mzmolly]

3. One wonders what the implications

are.

Research done on people with chemical sensitivity has shown that the tight junctions inside the nose are compromised in these people. The cells are no longer tight. The possibility of this is that they allow passage of contaminants into the brain through the olfactory bulb.

... I am among the chemically sensitive. Very interesting.

[KT2000]

8. this was research

from William Meggs MD.
I have CS too.

[longship]

4. ^^THIS^^ (and some George Carlin)

All life on our planet depends on all other life. That's why some call it the web of life. Evolution has fit this web together in an intricate, commingled whole.

Bacteria are, and have always been, part of our existence. The fear of bacteria marketed by advertisements -- Kills 99% of all germs! -- may be doing great harm.

I highly suspect that recent increases in asthma may be related to parents not allowing their children to play with mud pies, and this insane focus on killing germs on every surface in a household.

Also, washing hands with alcohol based hand cleaners is dumb. Very dumb. Plain soap works just fine.

As usual, George Carlin got it exactly right:

[closeupready]

6. OMG, that was sooooo funny!!!

Thanks for the laugh!!

[longship]

7. It's not only funny, it's also current science.

Carlin was great.

Joe bless you.

[ismnotwasm]

9. Actually the hospital I work in

We are required to use hand gel prior to entering a room and leaving it. Apparently, soap and water can cause small tears in the skin-- probably from dryness-- and can carry infection. I can stand this about four times before I wash my hands

Anyway the reason we do this, infection control is because of the many multidrug resistant organisms we've developed. And why did we develop them? Overprescribing anti-biotics. I know infectious disease doc who flat out says 'this is our fault'. People not taking the full dose of anti- biopics when dealing with a bacterial infection is also a factor, and we have emerging 'germs' we have no treatment for.

Ach George, we miss ye.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. I grew up in a filthy house. I have had horrendous respiratory problems.

At various times in my life.

All through childhood I had a perpetually runny nose, and nobody noticed.

The house was not sealed, not air conditioned, and had dust blowing through it. We also had an 80 pound collie dog who was a house dog with her own sofa to sleep on.

We had totally inadequate window unit air conditioners and a 12-month growing season. Most of the time the house was stifling hot because of a lack of proper air conditioning. It was often too hot to sleep at night.

The dishes, the clothes and the food were clean but the rest of the house wasn't.

We had rats stampeding across the attic at night, and scaring the shit out of me. If dad put out rat poison, a rat would die in a wall and the place would smell horrible. Occasionally I would see a rat walking around in the house at night, skulking around like he owned the joint.

I have had sinus problems, allergic asthma and so forth because I have in the past had a run down immune system.

Auto-immune diseases run in my mother's family and I inherited that tendency from her. The only autoimmune disease that affects me greatly is hypothyroidism.

I don't think your theory of too much cleanliness is applicable in my case.

[hedgehog]

13. I have had a somehwat similiar experience - enough to make me question

whether it's not the absence of dirt that's the problem so much as the use of cleaners and pesticides to achieve that absence!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. In my case it's a bad immune system. Not the environment.

The last two days all I have done is sleep. I am extremely tired because of the pollen in the air and my allergies are really bad.

[Loudestlib]

5. Blood-brain barrier

"The researchers found these bacterial molecules in brain samples from people with HIV, as well as people with no known infectious disease but who had undergone brain surgery. "

Have they found this in people who are not severely immunocompromised or that haven't had surgery?

[mzmolly]

11. Has anyone

looked? The primary researcher involved in this discovery is an AIDS researcher. I hope more research follows.

[Blue Owl]

12. Looks like we need a microbe lobe probe

n/t