The Pathogenesis of Bacterial Lung Infections

Bacterial lung infections continue to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The lungs are under constant pressure to protect the body from invading bacteria. An effective inflammatory immune response must be tightly orchestrated to ensure clearance of any invading bacteria, while simultaneously ensuring that inflammation is kept under control.  Pneumonia and sepsis are major threats to human life, especially as their treatment has become more difficult with emerging drug resistance. In order to survive within the lung, bacteria target the host immune system to prevent eradication. Many bacteria directly target inflammatory cells and cytokines to impair inflammatory responses. However, bacteria can also take advantage of and attenuate inflammatory immune responses in the host lung to inhibit bacterial elimination. It is critical we define mechanisms of resistance and establish an improved improved understanding of the host factors that can be modulated to develop novel therapeutic approaches to infections.

For this Special Issue of Pathogens, we invite the submission of original research articles, case reports, short communications, and review articles focused on “Bacterial Lung Infections” with the goal of enhancing our understanding of lung infection pathogenesis, including bacterial and host factors that determine the outcome of infections. In particular, we seek to identify novel approaches that enhance host factors for bacterial clearance and can be integrated into new therapeutic approaches. Topics of interest include: host factors, such as alcohol and smoking; immunocompromised states; microbiome and microbial community dynamics; bacterial resistance mechanisms; hospital-acquired bacterial infections; multidrug resistant infections; innate and adaptive responses; lipid mediators and mitochondrial dysfunction; new infection models of lung infections; and novel therapeutics.

We encourage the submission of articles, communications, and reviews focused on the mechanisms of pathogenesis or novel compounds intended to mitigate it. All submitted papers will undergo a standard independent peer-review process.

Prof. Dr. Ruxana T. Sadikot
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• bacterial lung infections
• pathogenesis
• bacterial resistance mechanisms
• novel therapeutics