Biomedical Catalyst – Use of Ovine Polyclonal Antibodies to Treat Severe Clostridium difficile Infections

医院获得性感染最常见的原因之一是艰难梭菌，它通过释放两种强大的毒素引起腹泻和其他影响。这种感染远远超过了MRSA引起的感染，美国疾病控制和预防中心指出“……难辨梭菌的死亡率比其他所有肠道疾病的死亡率总和还要高。”目前的项目涉及一种通过注射特异性抗体来治疗严重艰难梭菌感染的新方法，这种抗体与毒素结合并中和毒素。这种抗体是通过用微量灭活毒素免疫绵羊而产生的（类似于婴儿的疫苗接种），抗体从其他血液成分中分离出来，纯化并填充到安瓿中，准备作为抗生素治疗的辅助静脉给药。

One of the commonest causes of hospital acquired infection is the bacterium Clostridium difficile which causes diarrhoea and other effects by releasing two powerful toxins. Such infections far outnumber those due to MRSA and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA has noted “...the incidence of deaths from C.difficile is greater than the extent of deaths from all the other intestinal diseases combined.” The present project involves a novel means of treating patients with severe C. difficile infections by injecting specific antibodies which bind to, and neutralise the toxins. The antibodies are produced by immunising sheep with miniscule amounts of inactivated toxins (similar to the vaccination of infants) and the antibodies are separated from other blood constituents, purified and filled into ampoules ready for intravenous administration as an adjunct to antibiotic therapy.