October 2009

An émigré scientist from the former Soviet Union is working to develop a new treatment for diarrhea based on a century-old remedy commonly used in his former homeland. Alexander Sulakvelidze, chief scientist for privately held Baltimore biotech Intralytix, says the bacteriophage-based probiotic preparation shows promise for managing shigella infections, a “significant worldwide cause of diarrheal

St. Louis city health officials on Wednesday reported a sharp increase in cases of a highly contagious intestinal bacteria that is typically spread by children.  There have been 67 cases of shigellosis from July 1 through Monday, compared to nine cases for all of 2008, according to the St. Louis City Department of Health.

Health

NIH has awarded a group of researchers $2.87 million for preclinical development of an oral drug to treat C. difficile and Shigella.

The consortium is led by Brigham Young University (BYU) and includes SRI International, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and McMaster University. CSA-13 is based on Ceragenin™ technology, which is a class of antimicrobial compounds