How Lactate Triggers Meningitis Progression

Lactate is a byproduct of glucose metabolism and it is used as a substrate for energy production during exercise. However, a research team from Stockholm University in Sweden has found that lactate produced in the upper throat, could lead to the detachment of small colonies of meningitis-causing bacteria, resulting in the spread of the bacteria to the rest of body due to invasion into the blood. This study, published in PLOS Pathogens, describes the colonization of the bacterium Neisseria meningitides in the upper respiratory tract.