The nervous system may play a bigger role in infections and autoimmune diseases than previously known, scientists have found.
Learning more about that role could provide insight into diagnosing and treating everything from the stomach flu to rheumatoid arthritis, researchers believe.
Researchers at St Michael's Hospital in Toronto, in conjunction with the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, reviewed the latest, most vigorous pre-clinical trials on this topic in a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
They noted that neurons of the peripheral nervous system - specialised nerve cells that transmit information throughout the body - are known to send information about local infections or inflammation to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) so the CNS can co-ordinate the whole body response.
Dr Benjamin Steinberg, a post-doctoral fellow and an anesthesiology resident at St Michael's, hypothesised that the neurons may be sending the CNS not just a general danger warning but specific information about whether the infection is caused by a virus or bacteria, the type of bacteria present or the nature of the auto-immune reaction.
Basic science researchers are now trying to decipher the "neural code" of information being sent by neurons.
Since messages are being sent from neurons to the CNS in real time, knowing what they're saying could speed diagnoses or prognostication, which would be especially important in pandemics or outbreaks of particularly contagious or deadly diseases, such as flu, Ebola or SARS.
The current method for confirming infections is to test body fluids or tissues, sometimes using invasive techniques, a process that can take hours, days or even longer.
