Every year many people suffer from bacterial pneumonia, and for the seniors the diseases sometimes become fatal. A recent discovery has proved that a specific hormone can control this problem.
For a long time, doctors prefer medication as the best option to treat bacterial pneumonia. Some people also change the lifestyle to get rid of this disease. But, none of them provides much comfort and solution for the victims of this disease. Recently, researchers have unveiled a hormone to treat the problem.
According to EurekAlert, a team of researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has discovered a hormone that can prevent bacterial pneumonia. The said disease is caused due to a certain type of bacteria. Now the hormone, hepcidin, stops the spreading of the bacteria in the body.
Bacterial pneumonia now gets the best answer of recovery. The liver produces the hormone hepcidin. The iron in the blood is the key source for the bacteria of the said disease to survive and grow. Hepcidin helps to hide the iron in the blood and blocks the survivability of the bacteria.
The increment of the hormone in the body of those patients who are suffering from the liver disease can be very helpful. People who are the victims of the excessive existence of iron in the blood also gain benefits from hepcidin. Borna Mehrad, a popular researcher, opines that the bacteria of the disease are gradually becoming antibiotic-resistant. He utters that sometimes antibiotics can't produce fruitful results to tackle bacterial pneumonia.
Scientific Journal JCI Insight reported the antibiotic resistance is a key cause responsible in diminishing the options to treat the disease. Borna Mehrad and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered a positive result of hepcidin in the mice. They saw that the lack of the hormone in the mice made them victims of bacterial pneumonia. The test revealed that the bacteria of this fatal disease spread from the lungs to the bloodstream and the mice finally died.
Researcher Kathryn Michels, a graduate student in the lab of Mehrad, states about the development of a drug that can mimic the function of hepcidin. In a word, efforts are on to tackle bacterial pneumonia by increasing the hormone in the body. The new discovery is certainly one of the best to prevent the fatal disease.