THE MIGHT OF NOROVIRUS -TOURISTS' NIGHTMARE!

Influenza is an annual visitor for many people in the US, especially senior citizens with reduced immunity to a host viruses that cause the disease. Every year due to the diligent work of immuno chemists, anti viral vaccines are readied after determining the type of virus that can be expected to emerge. It is to the credit of that country that millions of doses of vaccines are made ready for vaccinating those most vulnerable to the Flu and mortality is really contained within reasonable limits. How about the so called stomach virus which also makes its visits during winter as these tiny bugs can survive freezing conditions as well as temperatures as high as 60C! The usual symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea can occur within 10-48 hours after getting the infection through food or water. One has to admire the power of this virus when it is recognized that it is not "culturable" under laboratory conditions and hence no vaccine can ever be prepared as a preventive step.Here are interesting facts about this "almighty" vector.

"I've never understood the appeal of cruises. They sound boring, too much time sitting on your butt at sea, not enough running around on land. But passengers on a recent 10-day cruise through the Balkan Sea had a lamer than average journey thanks to an outbreak of norovirus. Exactly how many of the ship's passengers fell victim to the miserable gastrointestinal malady is up for grabs (as many as 400 according to fellow passengers, just a handful if you ask the PR department). The "plague ship", as it was re-christened by unhappy customers (pretty classy given the circumstances, I'd have gone with "ship of loose stools" or the "S.S. Blaaaauuurrrggh"), was back at the dock last week, but we're sure to see plenty more cases of norovirus in the coming months. It isn't called the "winter vomiting bug" for nothing.* Four hundred cases on one cruise may sound improbable, but norovirus is a mighty pathogen. Like many a food-borne illness, it's transmitted via the fecal-oral route. Feces of an individual infected with the virus is somehow ingested by an uninfected person – often in contaminated food or water – where it replicates in the digestive tract and continues the cycle. Vomit works too. It's gross, I know. But don't worry, because we're likely talking about a minuscule amount of puke or poo in your food. Part of the charm of the winter vomiting bug is its drastically low infectious dose. As few as 18 viral particles can be enough to make you thoroughly sick.**"

Interestingly this virus called Norovirus is found to be very resilient surviving for 15-20 days on surfaces when contaminated from those carrying them and can easily be transmitted to scores of people coming in contact with such surfaces. Many a time people, imagining that their drinking water is chlorinated, come to grief following Norovirus attack through water samples chlorinated at sub-optimal level. Those consuming food through bare hands without use of spoons or forks can also be affected if hands are not washed thoroughly before touching the food. Tropical countries like India more or less escape from Norovirus epidemic because this virus does not breed well at higher atmospheric temperatures. According to people who had experienced Norovirus attack are mostly while touring in groups with close contacts most frequent providing greater opportunity to the virus to transfer itself to others. Probably it is advisable to be doubly vigilant when travels for long duration necessitating frequent and close contacts and sharing of food and water.    

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

A NEW TOOL TO FIGHT GI DISORDERS-THE BACTERIAL ROUTE

Human gastrointestinal tract harbors a variety of species of micro organisms which are supposed to help maintain the health with minimum vulnerability to many infectious diseases, especially those entering via the oral route.The concept of pro-biotics and pre-biotics and their role in nurturing the intestinal flora are more or less established and there are thousands of foods in the market containing these beneficial ingredients in processed foods. In spite of many claims made regarding specific health benefits of these food ingredients, many such claims are being disapproved by authorities in different countries for want of confirmatory evidence using human subjects, as most data are generated with animal systems. All said and done it can be safely assumed that most bacteria that reside in human guts, especially the lactic acid bacteria, are beneficial to every one, at least for keeping in check many harmful microorganisms co-existing with them that can cause serious diseases. Some of the disorders related to stomach and intestine are considered genetic and among these Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome (IBD) poses enormous challenge to medical fraternity in treating it. Now comes a report which suggests that IBD can be cured using a genetically modified Lactic acid bacterial strains that can produce the anti inflammatory protein Elafin capable of countering the effect of IBD. Here are further details about this innovative approach in IBD treatment.  

"Using non-pathogenic bacteria found naturally in the intestine and dairy food, scientists from Inserm and Inra have designed modified bacteria to produce Elafin, a human protein which is known for its anti-inflammatory proprieties.  Their breakthrough has provided new hope for individuals suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases, known as IBD, (specifically Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis). They believe that administering this protein directly into the intestine could protect against inflammatory attacks and restore intestinal equilibrium and its functions. During inflammatory outbreaks, IBDs are chiefly characterised by abdominal pain, frequent diarrhoea (sometimes with bleeding) or even disorders in the anal area (fissure, abscesses). Different avenues are being explored to explain the origin of IBDs, including the role of genetic or environmental factors. The intestinal flora seems to play an important role in the outbreak of inflammation, although little is known about it. Identifying an effective treatment is also at the heart of the investigations. Although Elafin is found naturally in the intestine to protect it against attacks, it disappears in patients suffering from IBDs. To design the modified bacteria, the human Elafin gene, isolated in collaboration with a team from the Institut Pasteau, was introduced in Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus casei, two food-grade bacteria found in dairy products. When administered orally to mice, the human Elafin-producing bacteria are found a few hours later on the surface of the intestine where they deliver the anti-inflammatory protein. In different mice models of chronic or acute intestinal inflammation, oral treatment using these Elafin-producing bacteria provided significant protection of the intestine and decreased inflammatory symptoms. Elafin expressed by these bacteria also protects cultured human intestinal cell lines from inflammatory outbreaks similar to those observed in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. Elafin produced in this way restores the equilibrium of intestinal mucus by reducing inflammation and accelerating cell-healing processes".

IBD can be a chronic disease and invariably treatments being offered to day do not cure the disease as most of them are palliative in nature. The studies which brought about the role of Elafin protein in the development of the disease have shown the way forward and it is up to the medical community to make use of these findings for the benefit of those suffering from this painful disease. Use of human Elafin gene for modifying Lactobacillus casei and Lactococcus lactii may pose a challenge as it involves high quality biotechnological techniques and till such time when their production becomes feasible, the research may stay within the laboratory where it was developed. Pharma companies may have to be sensitized and taken into confidence for production of lyophilized GM bacterial preparations for regular treatment of patients suffering from IBD.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com