No, the headline of this article is not in reference to a new horror movie. Rather, as reported by the Israel21c website, it is a reference to groundbreaking research by scientists at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center.
A bacteria, called Group A Streptococcus (GAS), responsible for such illnesses as "strep throat" or impetigo, can also cause a quick death when it reaches the bloodstream, muscles or lungs. In the case of the fatal infection called necrotizing fasciitis, the bacteria destroys skin, fat and muscle tissue, leading to death in many, if not most, cases.
Now, however, after five years of research, investigators from the department of clinical microbiology at Hebrew University, along with researchers from the Hadassah Medical Center, have stopped the spread of GAS in mice, preventing their deaths due to the infection. The method pioneered by the scientists allows bacteria-fighting white blood cells to be created and make it to the place of the infection, thus giving them a chance to fight off the bacteria.
"We had to ask ourselves why the white blood cells weren't being recruited in certain cases. We discovered that a certain protein had been digesting the peptide responsible for recruiting the white blood cells," Prof. Hanski explained to Israel21c. So the researchers had to artificially recreate the peptide that was being naturally eliminated.
Israel 21c noted that the Israeli researchers' work will appear in an upcoming issue of the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet.
A bacteria, called Group A Streptococcus (GAS), responsible for such illnesses as "strep throat" or impetigo, can also cause a quick death when it reaches the bloodstream, muscles or lungs. In the case of the fatal infection called necrotizing fasciitis, the bacteria destroys skin, fat and muscle tissue, leading to death in many, if not most, cases.
Now, however, after five years of research, investigators from the department of clinical microbiology at Hebrew University, along with researchers from the Hadassah Medical Center, have stopped the spread of GAS in mice, preventing their deaths due to the infection. The method pioneered by the scientists allows bacteria-fighting white blood cells to be created and make it to the place of the infection, thus giving them a chance to fight off the bacteria.
"We had to ask ourselves why the white blood cells weren't being recruited in certain cases. We discovered that a certain protein had been digesting the peptide responsible for recruiting the white blood cells," Prof. Hanski explained to Israel21c. So the researchers had to artificially recreate the peptide that was being naturally eliminated.
Israel 21c noted that the Israeli researchers' work will appear in an upcoming issue of the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet.