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 that mimic functions of the body’s own innate immune system.

The technology was invented by Paul B. Savage, Ph.D., Reed Izatt professor at BYU, and was exclusively licensed to Ceragenix. The company is using the Ceragenin platform to formulate Cerashield™ antimicrobial coatings for medical devices. In March the firm reported that the NIH had granted the University of Utah $1.66 million to evaluate a Cerashield coating to reduce orthopedic implant infections.

“We are very pleased that the NIH sees potential in our technology as an oral drug to treat these dangerous infections,” says Steve Porter, chairman and CEO of Ceragenix. “We believe that the NIH funded research activities will be synergistic with our development efforts on antimicrobial medical device coatings.”

Thirty people have died in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from the severe form of dysentery called Shigella that has infected 700 others.

While PNG’s limited health system is dealing with Shigella, to the north in Wasu, 13 people have died amid the country’s first outbreak of cholera and 200 others have contracted the water-borne disease.

PNG health officials are combating simultaneous outbreaks of the Flu, Shigella, and Cholera.

All totaled 120 people are dead and the diseases, mostly in the Morobe province on the country’s north coast, have infected thousands.

It is Papua New Guinea’s first cholera outbreak and medics fear the situation will get much worse before it gets better.

Radio New Zealand is monitoring this medical emergency.

 

We cannot find a copy of it, but apparently there was a Voice of America report that the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia warned Americans in the country of increased risks of diarrheal illnesses including Shigella, Salmonella, and Cholera.

Addis Ababa, one of the dirtiest cities in the world, is experiencing a severe outbreak of "Acute Watery Diarrhea" with one thousand cases being reported a day.   Hospitals are said to be erecting tents to handle all the patients showing up for treatment.  

According to the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs office:

AWD has spread to nine out of ten sub-cities in Addis Ababa and cases continue to increase in each region currently affected by the outbreak (Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, SNNPR and Somali). Humanitarian partners, including UNICEF and WHO, are particularly concerned by the increase in the number of woredas affected in a short period of time and are extremely worried that some people, particularly children, living in areas affected by the ongoing food crisis may be especially vulnerable to infection due to malnutrition.

As a result of the growing seriousness of the situation, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) has reportedly revised the projected requirements included in the forthcoming Humanitarian Requirements Document, which projects needs per sector for the period August to December, for the prevention, management and treatment of AWD cases.

The government and aide groups have now set up a "command center’ to manage the crisis. The UN Humanitarian Bulletin is available for updates. 

Swimmers at Shannon Beach, MA in Winchester are coming down with shigellosis, forcing the Department of Conservation and Recreation to close the popular area formerly known as Sandy Beach.

Renamed last year for Sen. Charles E. Shannon, the former policeman and state senator who represented the area until his death at age 61, was closed at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21st.  It will remain closed until further notice.

"In the interest of public health and safety, we closed the Shannon Beach facility immediately upon learning of the apparent bacterial contamination," DCR Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan, Jr. told WCVB-TV in Boston.

He said a number of people experiencing Shigella reported visiting Shannon Beach within the last three weeks.

"(The) Department of Public Health (DPH) encourages anyone who may have visited Shannon Beach and Playground facilities and who has any of these symptoms, particularly unresolved diarrheal illness, to contact their health care provider," said DPH Commissioner John Auerbach.  "The best prevention is washing hands with soap, particularly after using the toilet or changing diapers.  Soap kills bacteria."

In addition to diarrhea, symptoms include fever, nausea, stomach cramps and vomiting.

Shigella, along with Salmonella and Cholera, were each responsible for one of the 30 drinking water outbreaks back in the 1993-94 period studied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   It found those outbreaks, including 20 from private water wells, were responsible for 2,366 illnesses and one death.

Nothing in the CDC report has anything to do with whether or not babies should drink water.   Nevertheless, the report was thrown against the wall this morning in the New York Times as part of a discussion about whether it is safe for babies to drink water.

Dr. Alan Greene, a Danville, CA pediatrician and author, cautions parents against letting baby drink water. Greene, who has his own Web site, says wait until the baby is eating solid food and even then limit water intake to 2 to 4 ounces between feedings.

As for encephalitis, babies will not get it from drinking water from a public supply in the United States. He advises using “absolute pore size” filters to remove Crypto and other parasites. If you have a baby or want one, check out the NYT for the rest. 

Schools are going to be hypersensitive this year about “deep cleaning” and student sanitation because of Swine Flu.   Maybe that will help with the old standby threats from the likes of .

In Ohio, the Zanesville City Schools are “scrambling to make sure everything is clean as possible for the upcoming school year.” That’s because two of 79 children in a daycare program operated out of the Rufus Putnam School have tested positive for Shigella.

Both victims are girls, the ages 2 and 3.  According to Vicki Whitacre, the Zanesville-Muskingum Health Department’s medical director, food handlers at the daycare are also being tested. Fifteen people who had some contact with the girls have reported experiencing diarrhea symptoms.

Food is brought into the daycare from another site and no other programs served have experienced any problems.   The school district is having everything cleaned and wiped down. 

Five swimmers at Silver Lake in Hollis, N.H. got sick during July. Now, four of the five have been confirmed as victims of Shigella. All the swimmers have recovered.

Health officials Monday were out on the lake taking water samples and test results have found the Shigella bacteria are present. More testing is underway, but in meantime swimmers are being warned about the potential for contamination.

Shigella symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps starting a day or two after being exposed. Anyone who swam in the lake recently and who are experiencing those symptoms are urged to seek immediate medical care.

Two eastern Ohio counties are reporting an outbreak of Shigella that may be traced back to a wedding held on the beautiful shores of Grand Lake St. Mary’s in Celina.

According to the Wapakoneta Daily News:

Seven Auglaize County residents are among those affected by a bacterial infection from a source in Celina, confirmed the Auglaize County health commissioner.

Health Commissioner Charlotte Parsons, who confirmed the outbreak of shigella this week, said the source of the food- and water-born disease can be traced back to a wedding in Celina.

Most of the seven Auglaize County cases were within one family, Parsons said. Several were juveniles, but none were younger than 15.

There were several other cases reported in Mercer County, but health officials there could not be reached for more information.

The wedding was catered by a business that has its own facilities, and left-over food was disposed of before health officials were called in to investigate.   There is more in today’s  Daily News.

     “Shigella used to be very uncommon,” said Dr. William Little, chairman of the Racine Board of Health. “In all my years of practice I don’t remember seeing anything like this.”

If dealing with Swine Flu was not bad enough, Racine, Wisconsin is finding itself with a growing Shigella outbreak.  When Shigella cases first began to be reported in the spring, health officials figured the outbreak would end with the end of the school year.

But, that did not happen.  In May, Racine had 12 confirmed cases of Shigella.  In June, the number rose to 23.

Typically Racine has only has 11 or 12 cases per year of shigella, Teri Hicks, director of community health programs, told the Journal-Times.

Racine health officials are working with the state but have not yet determined a cause for the increase in the number of cases, Hicks said.

“They have noticed it’s abnormal,” she said.

Surrounding counties have not experienced the uptick in Shigela cases. There’s more in the Racine Journal-Times. 

Intralytix Inc. announced last week that it has been awarded a contract from the United States Army to develop a bacteriophage-based food safety product for reducing or eliminating contamination from pathogenic Salmonella and Shigella spp.

The product would be used to eliminate or significantly reduce contamination of fruits, vegetables and other food products.

Intralytix Inc is a Baltimore-based biotechnology company focused on improving human health through the development and commercialization of innovative products for food safety and human therapeutics using its core bacteriophage (or phage) technology platform.

“We are very pleased with the award because it helps to enrich Intralytix’s portfolio of phage-based, food safety products, and it demonstrates the confidence that the U.S. Army has in Intralytix’s leadership in developing bacteriophage-based preparations for food safety applications for military and civilian populations,” stated Dr. Alexander Sulakvelidze, Intralytix’s Vice-President for Research and Development and Chief Scientist.

For more see the company’s press release.