Research into why so many people die from infection following stroke buoyed by fellowship
Dr Connie Wong from Monash University's Centre for Inflammatory Diseases has been awarded a highly prestigious AUD$1.25 million, five-year, CSL Centenary Fellowship to further her research into why so many people die from infection following stroke.
Stroke is responsible for ten per cent of deaths worldwide. Dr Wong wants to understand why as many as one fifth of deaths following stroke are caused by pneumonia and other infections.
Dr Wong and her team have discovered that stroke not only damages the brain but weakens the immune system and allows bacteria in the gut to escape and cause infection in other parts of the body.