Wednesday 8 May 2019

Researchers identify previously unknown bacterial strain

Clinicians at the Department of Neurology of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital identified muscle weakness and severe fatigue in a previously healthy patient, to the extent that he was soon confined to a wheelchair. These symptoms were indicative of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis. However, the treating neurologist, Matthias Tomschik, found other symptoms, which were not typical of this condition: "Laboratory tests revealed raised inflammation and liver values and the patient had a fever. These results pointed to an infection, so we had to look at this case more closely." Two experts contributed, Inga Koneczny from the Institute of Neurology and Mateusz Markowicz from the Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology, undertaking more detailed investigations.

* This article was originally published here