A robust strain of bacteria infects millions of Americans, especially the elderly, each year with a hospital-acquired infection called Clostridium difficile. It causes diarrhea, inflammation of the colon and other intestinal conditions. The infection is twice as common as it was a decade ago and the most severe cases can be fatal.
The antibiotics that physicians normally use to treat the infection sometimes do more harm than good. The bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and about one-fifth of patients relapse after a few weeks of antibiotics.
Researchers from The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston discovered a way to use a protein modification called nitrosylation to prevent these bacteria from entering the human body. The bacteria are rendered inactive if they do end up infecting a patient. These findings were published in the online August issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
Commonwealth Medical College scientist Raj Kumar, who worked on the project, says upcoming clinical trials are expected to determine the best way to use nitrosylation to treat Clostridium difficile. “We are very optimistic,” he says. These findings could also be used to develop new ways to treat other forms of diarrhea and bacteria-caused diseases.
Source: Raj Kumar, The Commonwealth Medical College
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
