from the take-before-having-the-chicken-tartar dept.
Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have developed a vaccine against salmonella poisoning designed to be taken by mouth. The findings are detailed in an article published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.
In earlier studies, the UTMB researchers developed potential vaccines from three genetically mutated versions of the salmonella bacteria, that is Salmonella Typhimurium, that were shown to protect mice against a lethal dose of salmonella. In these studies, the vaccines were given as an injection.
[...] There is no vaccine currently available for salmonella poisoning. Antibiotics are the first choice in treating salmonella infections, but the fact that some strains of salmonella are quickly developing antibiotic resistance is a serious concern. Another dangerous aspect of salmonella is that it can be used as a bioweapon -- this happened in Oregon when a religious cult intentionally contaminated restaurant salad bars and sickened 1,000 people.
[...] Salmonella is responsible for one of the most common food-borne illnesses in the world. In the US alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are about 1.4 million cases with 15,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths each year. It is thought that for every reported case, there are approximately 39 undiagnosed infections. Overall, the number of salmonella cases in the US has not changed since 1996.
Tatiana E. Erova, et al. Protective Immunity Elicited by Oral Immunization of Mice with Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Braun Lipoprotein (Lpp) and Acetyltransferase (MsbB) Mutants. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 2016; 6 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2016.00148
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @09:49PM
If they vaccinate the chickens against salmonella, will we get immunity by eating them?
That way, we will be protected when we eat unvaccinated chickens. Back to fast food chicken sandwiches for me!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @11:51PM
No, unless you regularly eat whole raw chickens.
Pumping dead animals full of vaccine and throwing them out of helicopters is actually a very effective way of vaccinating wild animals against rabies.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday December 31 2016, @04:01AM
So it should also work tossing out live Turkeys?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 31 2016, @11:59AM
Les Nessman: "Oh, the humanity!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday December 30 2016, @10:18PM
It isn't a rocky film without some idiot chugging 8 raw eggs before a daily 10k run.
compiling...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @11:47PM
According to America's Test Kitchen, ~1/10000 supermarket eggs is contaminated with salmonella.
Rocky would get exposed to one every 3-4 years at 8 per day, but he probably wouldn't get sick due to the fact that he eats lightning and craps thunder.
(Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday December 31 2016, @12:41AM
I know when stats come up with "millions" of cases of food poisoning that many people can be skeptical. But Salmonella, like many types of food poisoning, can present in a variety of fashions from very mild to very severe.
For one thing, contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as the "24-hour flu," in the sense that influenza doesn't present gastrointestinal symptoms that last 24 hours. And the vast majority of times that people DO have vomiting and/or diarrhea (sometimes with fever, chills, etc.) that lasts 24 hours, it's a case of food poisoning of some variety. (There are a minority of cases where these symptoms are caused by viruses rather than foodborne bacteria, but some such viruses, such as Norovirus, are also frequently involved in food poisoning outbreaks too.)
The key thing to note is that food poisoning -- including Salmonella -- does NOT always present immediately. A lot of types of food poisoning can take 2 or 3 days for incubation before symptoms present. So just because you don't get diarrhea immediately after eating the underdone chicken doesn't mean that the "stomach flu" you get a few days later wasn't connected to it. Or maybe while taking your raw chicken out of the package you sprayed "juice" over the counter and it got on some vegetables or fruits you later cut up for your salad... but nothing happened for a day or two and you forgot that even happened. Short of a lab test, you'll probably never know.
Anyhow, the vast majority of cases of food poisoning aren't severe enough to even result in a doctor or hospital visit, which is the reason why it's so hard to estimate the number of cases. But think back to how many times you've had a "stomach flu" in your life and realize that it's pretty likely most of them were actually food poisoning of some sort. Most people tend to be rather cavalier about kitchen hygiene because they often don't directly see cause and effect between a bad food practice and an illness that happens a day (or two or three) later.
For the elderly or the very young, these infections can frequently be life-threatening, and foodborne illness used to be a major cause of death before modern sanitation. It's still a huge issue in less developed countries... and, as the summary notes, it still results in significant numbers of hospitalizations (and some deaths) each year in the U.S.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @01:36AM
One thing that many people forget is that food poisoning can be caused by more than just under-cooked meat. According to some estimates, most FBI is caused by cross-contamination at home and by contaminated vegetables (especially spinach) in commercial settings. Additionally, infections from contaminated dairy products and some other sources can literally take 2 weeks before you feel ill.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday December 31 2016, @12:59AM
Just swallow this.
Low hanging fruit and all that. The internet has ruined me.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @03:49AM
Aristarchus likes to swallow my low hanging fruit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @03:57AM
Salmonella is a bacteria. "Vaccine" does not work against bacterial infection.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday December 31 2016, @04:20AM
TFA disagrees, as well as innumerable places on the interwebs.
One example: http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/top-20-questions-about-vaccination [historyofvaccines.org]
1. How do vaccines work? Do they work against viruses and bacteria?
Vaccines work to prime your immune system against future “attacks” by a particular disease. There are vaccines against both viral and bacterial pathogens, or disease-causing agents.
Not my area so enlighten please. Is there a technical term being abused, language drift?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @05:08AM
Vaccine is dead or weakened virus injected so that the immune system is primed with the specific antibody against the virus. This mechanism doesn't work against bacterial infection.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @07:16AM
nope.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @07:38AM
There are vaccines for TB, anthrax, typhus, and bacterial meningitis. I'm not sure about eukaryotic parasites, but there's certainly people working on malaria and sleeping sickness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @12:26PM
What vaccination does is to present a characteristic (but harmless) fragment of surface structure of the "bad guy" to train the immune system, so there is no fundamental reason why this would not work for (or rather against) bacteria - indeed there are even experimental cancer therapies based on this concept. The crucial part is to find something that is characteristic for at least some strains of the pathogen, does not change easily and is sufficiently different from what our own body cells display.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @08:47PM
For all I know you're trolling, but vaccines can be made to protect against viruses, bacteria, and even some larger molecules. If you're not simply trolling, you may also be getting tripped up by mixing up vaccines and antibiotics in your head; antibiotics are only effective against bacteria and not viruses...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 31 2016, @12:03PM
If this works, maybe one day i'll be able to buy a freaking turtle in my city. As it is i have to travel like 80 km to the nearest turtle selling city... because.... SALMONELLA!
Well if people are stupid enough to let their little kid stick the turtle in their mouths, they deserve to have a kid wind up with salmonella.
You know.... Darwin and all....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---