Saving Kids From Dangerous Infections – With An Amoeba:
C. difficile strikes 24,000 children in the United States each year, and many more around the world. The number of U.S. cases is growing, prompting the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to classify C. difficile as an immediate public health threat that requires aggressive action. The infection causes severe diarrhea and is especially dangerous to children with health conditions such as cancer, bowel diseases and cystic fibrosis. [...] For some, it can become incurable, requiring the removal of the large intestine to prevent death.
[UVA researcher Shannon] Moonah, however, aims to protect children from becoming so terribly sick. He would do that by genetically engineering a single-celled amoeba often found in the gut called "Entamoeba." Entamoeba is a parasite, but Moonah aims to use gene editing to turn it into a powerful ally against C. difficile.
Moonah plans to introduce a harmless form of Entamoeba into the intestine in order to deliver directly specific antibodies to inhibit damaging toxins produced by C. difficile. If his innovation works, this would be the first time an amoeba or other protozoan had been genetically engineered to deliver a treatment this way.
Ultimately, Moonah aims to turn his "protozoan technology and drug delivery system" into a platform used routinely to deliver a wide range of drugs to battle gut problems in young children. The strategy could offer many benefits, he says, including lessening antibiotic use amid the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @12:38PM (3 children)
According to the Dutch Institute for Public Health and Environment [www.rivm.nl] about 15 out of 10,000 hospitalized patients get infected yearly in Europe. Children aged 2 or younger are hardly getting infected.
It's a shitty disease, but proper toilet use can limit its spread: don't wipe using clothes, hands or furniture.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday June 16 2022, @08:08AM (2 children)
[Insert snide remark about a politician here.]
No, joking aside, sometimes the only way to treat toxic megacolon is through a colonectopy.
[Insert snarky aside about getting rid of that arsehole.]
Oi, behave! Sometimes, after the colonectopy, the patients can have a colon transplant.
[Insert witty comment about how said politician had a colon transplant, but it wasn't a success - the colon rejected him.]
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by chromas on Friday June 17 2022, @07:22AM (1 child)
Which one though? I need to know so I can decide if I agree with you or if I should draw a Hitler stache on your likeness.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday June 17 2022, @08:43AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves