Health Law

New Grant for Research on Treatment of Shigella and C. difficile

By Marler Clark

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a group of researchers $2.87 million for preclinical development of an oral drug to treat Shigella and C. difficile.

Shigella is a bacterium that belongs to a small group of pathogens (including E. coli O157:H7 and Cryptosporidium) that can infect the gut after the ingestion of relatively few organisms, and can cause sudden and severe diarrhea (gastroenteritis) in humans. About 25,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of shigellosis are reported each year in the U.S. Many cases go undiagnosed and/or unreported, however, and the CDC estimates that 450,000 total cases of shigellosis occur in the United States every year.

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a spore-forming, gram-positive anaerobic bacillus that produces two toxins: toxin A and toxin B. These toxins typically cause gastrointestinal disease, often with severe complications.

The new research will focus on Ceragenin™ technology, which is a class of antimicrobial compounds that mimic functions of the body's own innate immune system. The technology was invented by Paul B. Savage, Ph.D., professor at BYU.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).