Neurology, Addiction and Psychiatry Conference

Neuroinfections and neuroinflammation are two significant research fields in neurology, because such infections and neuroinflammation affect the pathogenesis of all those neurological disorders that have developed due to such infections and neuroinflammation. Neuroinfections include infections caused by pathogenic agents such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites in the nervous system, whereas neuroinflammation constitutes the immune reaction to the infectious agents within the CNS. This response may help to safeguard the brain but sometimes has damaging effects with long-term neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive dysfunctions.

Neuroinfections: Meningitis and encephalitis are the commonest. Others include those related to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Lyme disease, and others. These often lead to inflammatory conditions in the brain and spinal cord that hampers neural functions. Notable examples include neuroinfections that result from infections caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) and West Nile virus, which causes inflammation in the brain, and thus usually results in seizures, confusion, and memory loss. The meningitis caused by bacterial infections from Streptococcus pneumoniae is usually characterized by severe forms of bacterial meningitis due to inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Technically neuroinflammation is a defense mechanism, and hence it should be employed to clear the harmful pathogens from the central nervous system; however, it becomes chronic or excessive and leads to tissue damages and deterioration of the neurological conditions. Chronic neuroinflammatory processes have been implicated in multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease, where the neurons and the various supportive cells in the brain have been chronically killed through immune activity.

It is essential to understand the association between neuroinfections and neuroinflammation to develop therapeutic strategies reducing harmful inflammation while still enabling the immune system to clear infections. There are immunomodulatory therapies, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids; the newest of these biological therapies targets neuroinflammation without reducing the ability of the immune system to overcome infections.

The other landmark method of decreasing the burden of neuroinflammatory disease is the use of vaccines and antimicrobial therapy to prevent neuroinfections. In addition, they study the blood-brain barrier to monitor its disruption since this is the only time infections occur that often increase inflammation and prevent full delivery of drugs to the site of action.

Scientists will find new ways to treat acute neuroinfections and chronic inflammatory conditions affecting the brain and spinal cord with knowledge about the interactions of infections and inflammation in the nervous system.