Word: toxins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...anthrax cases prove fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This high mortality rate may result from the deceptive initial symptoms of inhalation anthrax infection, which resemble those of influenza. By the time a correct diagnosis is rendered, the anthrax bacteria may have already released enough toxin to kill a host—rendering antibiotics useless...
...research comes on the heels of a Dec. 2 announcement by Avanir Pharmaceuticals that it is developing an antibiotic that, taken just once before anthrax infection, would both kill anthrax bacteria and prevent anthrax toxin from entering cells...
...drug we envision could inhibit the toxin even after the toxin is released into the cell,” Cantley said. “It could be administered successfully in what you might call the late stages of lethality...
Once those tests prove successful, the private sector will become involved in creating a drug, and Cantley’s research partners at Fort Dietrich military research base in Maryland will take over testing on primates. A drug to combat anthrax toxin cannot be tested on humans because of the ethical and legal dilemmas of exposing humans to a potentially deadly disease...
Pharmaceutical companies would not ordinarily be interested in pursuing a drug to combat anthrax toxin because of the low likelihood that an average person would be exposed to anthrax, Cantley said. But because of the prospect of obtaining lucrative government contracts, private companies have already expressed interest in creating such a drug, he added...