Gut Bugs Attack

Diarrhoea, sickness, cramps, fever – just some of the symptoms of food poisoning. Some of us will be unlucky enough to experience these as a result of infection by a nasty gut bug known as Campylobacter jejuni, found on raw poultry such as chicken. It's one of the leading global causes of food-related illness, yet we know little about how it infects us. To find out more, researchers are studying mice carrying a faulty version of a gene called Sigirr that are particularly prone to Campylobacter infection. Pictured is a highly magnified section of gut from one of these animals showing the bacteria (highlighted in red) aggressively attacking and invading the gut tissue (blue and green). Figuring out how cells in the gut and the wider immune system respond to this onslaught reveals more about what's going on, and opens new approaches for more effective prevention and treatment.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Adapted from an image by Bruce Vallance and colleagues
• Child and Family Research Institute, Canada
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Pathogens, July 2014