Antioxidants help contain killer bug – Tuberculosis

Image above: Still image shows red inflammatory immune cells with the blue Tuberculosis bacteria.

Tuberculosis is the single leading cause of death from infectious disease around the world and infects someone every three seconds, causing life-long damage to the lungs.

Research led by Centenary has identified a powerful tool to fight tuberculosis. In collaboration with scientists at the University of Sydney, our team has shown antioxidant drugs both kill mycobacteria, the cause of infection, and keep the immune system from causing too much damage through out-of-control inflammation.

“Tuberculosis is one of the most common inflammatory diseases, and it is the immune systems that do most of the damage to the body during infection,” says senior author and Head of Centenary’s Immune-Vascular Interactions Laboratory, Dr Stefan Oehlers.

Video above: Taken using fluorescent microscopy shows the red inflammatory immune cells attacking blue bacteria outlined by green blood.

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