Scientists have created an experimental agent found to confer some protection to mice against deadly tularemia bacteria by prompting an immune response to the potential bioterrorism agent, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced yesterday (see GSN, May 18).
Sixty percent of mice in the study lived when they were infected with tularemia three days after being administered components drawn from a weakened version of the bacteria. No mice survived exposure if not given the treatment.
In addition, similar treatments conferred protection to human immune cells against tularemia as well as fellow possible bioweapons brucellosis, melioidosis and plague.
Traditional antibiotics function through direct opposition to harmful bacteria, according to a press release.
"A therapeutic that protects against a wide array of bacterial pathogens would have enormous medical and public health implications for naturally occurring infections and potential agents of bioterrorism," NIAID head Anthony Fauci said in a statement. "This creative approach is a prime example of public-private partnerships that can facilitate progress from a basic research finding to new, desperately needed novel therapeutics" (U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases release, May 27).
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100528_1061.php
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