• About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contribute
  • Contact
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Science
  • Tech
    IMGP4O and the New AI Paradigm: From Innovation to Impact

    IMGP4O and the New AI Paradigm: From Innovation to Impact

    How a pill used by millions every day could help prevent cancer spreading

    How a pill used by millions every day could help prevent cancer spreading

    Private company makes ‘fully successful’ Moon landing for first time ever

    Private company makes ‘fully successful’ Moon landing for first time ever

    Slack is down for thousands of people and nobody can do any work

    Slack is down for thousands of people and nobody can do any work

    Apple pulls iPhone security tool after UK government ‘demands access to user data’

    Apple pulls iPhone security tool after UK government ‘demands access to user data’

    Odds of ‘city killer’ asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 increase yet again

    Odds of ‘city killer’ asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 increase yet again

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Travel
    Finding the Perfect Pod What to Know Before You Buy

    Finding the Perfect Pod: What to Know Before You Buy

    10 unmissable Time Out London deals – including champagne brunch at The Shard for £55

    10 unmissable Time Out London deals – including champagne brunch at The Shard for £55

    People are just realising there’s a meaning behind the patterns on the Greggs pastries & say their minds are blown

    People are just realising there’s a meaning behind the patterns on the Greggs pastries & say their minds are blown

    English seaside hamlet with pub right on the beach often overlooked by Brits

    English seaside hamlet with pub right on the beach often overlooked by Brits

  • Entertainment
    You can now get hold of a PS5 for only £22 – but there’s a catch

    You can now get hold of a PS5 for only £22 – but there’s a catch

    Why I think Warner Bros. should sell up and leave the games industry – Reader’s Feature

    Why I think Warner Bros. should sell up and leave the games industry – Reader’s Feature

    Check your drawers for prized Pokémon games ‘worth £3,900’ – Nintendo fans might have titles worth thousands at home

    Check your drawers for prized Pokémon games ‘worth £3,900’ – Nintendo fans might have titles worth thousands at home

    Nintendo needs to bring back Zelda: Twilight Princess’ best character – Reader’s Feature

    Nintendo needs to bring back Zelda: Twilight Princess’ best character – Reader’s Feature

    Iconic Xbox game worth up to £650 if you still have it – and you don’t even need the box to cash in

    Iconic Xbox game worth up to £650 if you still have it – and you don’t even need the box to cash in

    GTA 6 PC release date revealed by peripheral manufacturer

    GTA 6 PC release date revealed by peripheral manufacturer

    Gamers slam Sony for ‘terrible’ PSN outage compensation as they suddenly realise certain users are excluded from offer

    Gamers slam Sony for ‘terrible’ PSN outage compensation as they suddenly realise certain users are excluded from offer

    E3 organisers are back with a new games convention called iicon

    E3 organisers are back with a new games convention called iicon

    Fortnite update v33.30 brings OG Chapter 1 Season 2 – and Godzilla is gone from Battle Royale

    Fortnite update v33.30 brings OG Chapter 1 Season 2 – and Godzilla is gone from Battle Royale

  • Covid-19*
  • Real Estate
  • More
    • Crypto
    • Press Release
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Science
  • Tech
    IMGP4O and the New AI Paradigm: From Innovation to Impact

    IMGP4O and the New AI Paradigm: From Innovation to Impact

    How a pill used by millions every day could help prevent cancer spreading

    How a pill used by millions every day could help prevent cancer spreading

    Private company makes ‘fully successful’ Moon landing for first time ever

    Private company makes ‘fully successful’ Moon landing for first time ever

    Slack is down for thousands of people and nobody can do any work

    Slack is down for thousands of people and nobody can do any work

    Apple pulls iPhone security tool after UK government ‘demands access to user data’

    Apple pulls iPhone security tool after UK government ‘demands access to user data’

    Odds of ‘city killer’ asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 increase yet again

    Odds of ‘city killer’ asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 increase yet again

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Travel
    Finding the Perfect Pod What to Know Before You Buy

    Finding the Perfect Pod: What to Know Before You Buy

    10 unmissable Time Out London deals – including champagne brunch at The Shard for £55

    10 unmissable Time Out London deals – including champagne brunch at The Shard for £55

    People are just realising there’s a meaning behind the patterns on the Greggs pastries & say their minds are blown

    People are just realising there’s a meaning behind the patterns on the Greggs pastries & say their minds are blown

    English seaside hamlet with pub right on the beach often overlooked by Brits

    English seaside hamlet with pub right on the beach often overlooked by Brits

  • Entertainment
    You can now get hold of a PS5 for only £22 – but there’s a catch

    You can now get hold of a PS5 for only £22 – but there’s a catch

    Why I think Warner Bros. should sell up and leave the games industry – Reader’s Feature

    Why I think Warner Bros. should sell up and leave the games industry – Reader’s Feature

    Check your drawers for prized Pokémon games ‘worth £3,900’ – Nintendo fans might have titles worth thousands at home

    Check your drawers for prized Pokémon games ‘worth £3,900’ – Nintendo fans might have titles worth thousands at home

    Nintendo needs to bring back Zelda: Twilight Princess’ best character – Reader’s Feature

    Nintendo needs to bring back Zelda: Twilight Princess’ best character – Reader’s Feature

    Iconic Xbox game worth up to £650 if you still have it – and you don’t even need the box to cash in

    Iconic Xbox game worth up to £650 if you still have it – and you don’t even need the box to cash in

    GTA 6 PC release date revealed by peripheral manufacturer

    GTA 6 PC release date revealed by peripheral manufacturer

    Gamers slam Sony for ‘terrible’ PSN outage compensation as they suddenly realise certain users are excluded from offer

    Gamers slam Sony for ‘terrible’ PSN outage compensation as they suddenly realise certain users are excluded from offer

    E3 organisers are back with a new games convention called iicon

    E3 organisers are back with a new games convention called iicon

    Fortnite update v33.30 brings OG Chapter 1 Season 2 – and Godzilla is gone from Battle Royale

    Fortnite update v33.30 brings OG Chapter 1 Season 2 – and Godzilla is gone from Battle Royale

  • Covid-19*
  • Real Estate
  • More
    • Crypto
    • Press Release
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

How the science of snakebites is taking on superbugs

by Morris
November 20, 2024
in Health
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

Brightly coloured illustration shows a snake curling around a bottle with the label 'OraCab'

Patients in British hospitals with serious, antibiotic-resistant gut infections have little in common with snakebite victims overseas. But when scientists made an unlikely connection in 2018, it led to trials for a potential new treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections. In this blog post we explore the science behind the discovery.

In 2018, UKHSA (then Public Health England) began working with a small Welsh pharmaceutical company which produces a range of antivenoms to treat snakebites worldwide.

When the team looked into the science behind the antivenom, they started to wonder if that same principles could be applied to treatments for hard-to-treat infections.

Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, is a type of bacteria that can normally live harmlessly in a person’s gut along with lots of other types of bacteria, often called the ‘microflora’. 

Sometimes, however, when antibiotics are given to patients being treated for something else, this microflora can become unbalanced leading to a C. diff infection that is difficult to treat with antibiotics and produces harmful toxins.

This can cause gut infections that are life-threatening for the individual, but it’s also highly contagious, putting other people at risk, particularly in hospital settings. Antibiotics are often ineffective at treating C. diff infections, so it is important to look at non-antibiotic therapies.

Through the opportunity to look at the development of the antivenom technology, UKHSA developed a novel preventative treatment for C. diff, which could stop patients in hospital settings from getting an infection, and has now received funding for Phase 2a clinical trials.

If successful, the treatment has the potential to save lives and prevent cases of antibiotic-resistant C. diff infection in hospitals each year.

Developing antivenoms

Antivenoms work inside the human bloodstream by rapidly mopping the venom out of the blood and preventing the person from getting sick.

The treatment for snake bites was being developed by putting a very small amount of snake venom into a sheep, causing it no harm, but stimulating the sheep to produce the antibodies required to immobilise the snake venom.

These antibodies were then extracted, stored, and later administered to snakebite patients.

Applying this science to preventing C. diff

C. diff is very difficult to grow in laboratory conditions, so it is a challenge to produce enough of the toxins in a laboratory to adopt the same approach as for snake venoms.

To overcome this problem the team developed a method of inserting modified (non-toxic) versions of the important genes from C. diff into an easier-to-grow bacterium, before harvesting the proteins which cause the severe intestinal infections.

These modified proteins could then be injected into the sheep without causing disease, but stimulate the sheep’s immune system to produce antibodies that can neutralise C. diff toxins.

The sheep made antibodies in large enough volumes that they could be extracted and developed into a treatment for human consumption.

Targeting C. diff in the gut

The treatment is a pepperminty drink that looks just like a health juice shot or a probiotic. Only a small amount is required for each dose. Because it is egg-white based, the antibodies can also be delivered, unaltered, straight to a patient’s gut – a hostile part of the body other treatments struggle to work in.

Importantly, this straightforward approach means that hospitals can give their patients the drink on arrival and then daily for the duration of their stay, stopping a patient from becoming ill from C. diff caught from others who may be infected, or from the C. diff in their own gut getting out of control.

The science behind treating C. diff without using antibiotics could become a hugely significant alternative therapy for treating bacterial infections, and a critical development in the UK government’s plan to tackle the growing threat of antibiotic resistance (AMR).

[ad_2]

Source link

Related Posts

Erectile Dysfunction: Understanding the Condition

Erectile Dysfunction: Understanding the Condition
by Morris
June 4, 2025
0
ShareTweetPin

How ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ GP stockpiled poisons through surgery before injecting mum’s lover with ‘flesh-eating’ toxin

How ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ GP stockpiled poisons through surgery before injecting mum’s lover with ‘flesh-eating’ toxin
by Morris
March 4, 2025
0
ShareTweetPin

Experts reveal 4 viruses that could trigger the next pandemic – from brain-swelling ‘flu’ to an eye-bleeding fever

Experts reveal 4 viruses that could trigger the next pandemic – from brain-swelling ‘flu’ to an eye-bleeding fever
by Morris
March 1, 2025
0
ShareTweetPin

Inside Fred Sirieix’s stunning Jamaican honeymoon with wife Fruitcake as he strips down to Speedos at luxury villa

Inside Fred Sirieix’s stunning Jamaican honeymoon with wife Fruitcake as he strips down to Speedos at luxury villa
by Morris
February 26, 2025
0
ShareTweetPin
Next Post
The family farm is the embodiment of conservative environmentalism

The family farm is the embodiment of conservative environmentalism

  • About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contribute
  • Contact

All Rights Reserved© 2021 Manchester Times

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • News
  • Business
  • Science
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Food

All Rights Reserved© 2021 Manchester Times