Could a bacterial polysaccharide suppress fatal brain inflammation?

Scientists from the City of Hope National Medical Center (CA, USA) have identified that polysaccharide A (PSA), a component of the cell envelope of Bacteroides fragilis, has the potential to prevent viral brain inflammation caused by herpesvirus. Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is an often-fatal disease and survivors frequently have severe neurological damage. The paper, published in Nature Communications, analyzed the effect of B. fragilis PSA on the survival rate of mice infected with herpes simplex virus. Mice that had been pretreated with the probiotic B. fragilis survived the herpes simplex virus infection while mice treated with placebo did not. Although...