Pulmonary Disease Associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis: Current Status of the Host-Bacterium Interaction

Abstract

... perhaps the worst thing about cystic fibrosis is that it attracts a bacteria known as pseudomonas. The excessive, filthy mucus overwhelms the defense mechanisms in the lungs, so the pseudomonas bacteria colonize there. Pseudomonas is most common with cystic fibrosis, but it is also a threat to patients why have been severely burned, and it is found in the bloodstreams of certain types of cancer patients. Still, for all the research that has been done, there is as yet no antibiotic to deal with pseudomonas, and once it begins to march through the lungs, it multiplies with impunity and sweeps everything in its path. For any cystic fibrosis patient, pseudomonas is the harbinger of death. [1]