Common Fungal Infection Can Breach the Brain and Impair Memory, Mouse Study Shows

Blood infection with the yeast Candida albicans, a type of fungus, can reach the brain and trigger an immune response, a new mouse study shows. Although the fungus can be cleared within 10 days, it affects the spatial memory of mice.

These findings are the first evidence that a blood infection with a fungus may have a role in diseases linked with a deregulated immune response in the central nervous system, like multiple sclerosis (MS).

The study “Microglia and amyloid precursor protein coordinate control of transient Candida cerebritis with memory deficits” was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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