Aspirin is the most famous pain medication used to reduce pain, inflammation and body temperature. However, the popular painkiller has great therapeutic potential. Australian researchers recently discovered that aspirin counteracts the world's most dangerous infectious disease, tuberculosis.
How common and dangerous is tuberculosis?
The Robert Koch Institute recently showed in a study that aspirin is suitable for treating tuberculosis. Acetylsalicylic acid can be used to treat a spreading, resistant form of the disease that is resistant to antibiotics. The results of the study were published in TheJournalofInfectiousDiseases.
In 2018, WHO reported that tuberculosis is the most dangerous infectious disease of our time. Each year, about 10 million people get tuberculosis, and 1.6 million people die from it.
The greatest threat to humanity is the antibiotic-resistant form, which affected about 558,000 people in 2017. The most effective anti-TB drugs already work.
How does aspirin help fight tuberculosis?
Stefan Elers, an Australian research team, has revealed in an animal model a bacterium-related disease process that is still unknown. Acetylsalicylic acid can suppress the pathological process and, thus, support the immune system in the fight against pathogens.
Researchers at the Robert Koch Institute recorded in zebrafish how tuberculosis bacteria steal platelets from the blood coagulation system. Using fluorescence microscopy, the team was able to observe the formation of blood clots and platelet activation around the sites of infection.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that tuberculosis pathogens stimulate platelets to impede the function of the immune system. In further experiments, the researchers studied how bacteria behave when blood is treated with a blood-thinning agent, aspirin.
Due to their blood-thinning effect, tuberculosis pathogens were less effective in treating platelets. Researchers found that bacteria were better controlled by the immune system if the patient was taking acetylsalicylic acid.
The researcher gives a previously unknown understanding of the tuberculosis disease process. For the first time, the team was able to observe the interaction of cells in real time and draw conclusions about the progress of the disease.
The results of the study open up the possibility of using antiplatelet drugs to help the immune system fight tuberculosis. The study provides strong evidence that aspirin can be used to treat severe tuberculosis.
Aspirin is far from a safe drug
The most common side effects are nausea, heartburn, and vomiting. In asthmatics, acetylsalicylic acid can cause seizures. When cyclooxygenases are inhibited, an excess of arachidonic acid is present.
The German Medicines Medicines Commission notes that aspirin can cause mucosal irritation. Gastrointestinal bleeding and gastric ulcer are rarer side effects.
During pregnancy, aspirin should be prescribed only in small quantities. A drug can lead to premature closure of the ductus arteriosus in the fetus, especially in the third trimester. An increased tendency of the mother to bleed during childbirth due to inhibition of blood coagulation is also observed.
High doses - 10 g of aspirin in adults - can already lead to life-threatening metabolic acidosis.
Patients experience respiratory paralysis and loss of consciousness. In addition, the inner ear may be damaged, resulting in hearing loss or tinnitus. Renal damage has also been described.
Aspirin is a potentially useful medicine that, however, has a number of side effects. Further research should assess the benefits and risks of using the drug.
