Simple method of treating sepsis developed

[gturner]

Sepsis kills about 200,000 Americans a year and it has a mortality rate comparable to Ebola. It can take days to figure out what type of infection is causing it, and even then antibiotics often take too long to work.

So the US Army developed a simple method of cleaning the blood, similar to dialysis, which filters out bacteria, viruses, and toxins.

Tiny magnetic beads coated with substance that attracts numerous types of bacteria, virus and other invaders, are used to catch the germs.

The infection-coated beads are then pulled out of the blood using a magnet and the clean blood put back into the patient.

In tests, 90 per cent of rats treated using the ‘biospleen’ survived potentially deadly infections – compared to just 14 per cent of untreated animals, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

Dr Super said: ‘We didn’t have to kill the pathogens. We just captured and removed them.’

This saves times and means that antibiotic-resistant germs, which are becoming increasing common, should be readily combated.

Daily Mail link

I'd recommend that each hospital get several.

 

[Bud Brewster]

To put a Star Trek spin on this concept, these little magnetic beads bear a family resemblance to their big city cousins, the nanoprobes that cruise around inside Seven of Nine and keep her lookin' good and feelin' sassy.

The biggest difference, of course, is the unfortunate fact that doctors can’t just inject these into a patient and have them work their little nano-miracle right in the blood stream.

But who knows? Maybe someday the researchers will develop a chewable, One-A-Day variety that won’t require the semi-exsanguination of the patient. When that happens we can all look as good as this.

 

[Bisz]

I think the most interesting part of this story is that the guy's name is Dr. Super.

But seriously, I'm surprised this sort of thing hasn't been though of before. I would think that a treatment, even if temporary, for sepsis, AKA blood poisoning, would be to filter the blood.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

So they use tiny magnetic particles to filter the blood

1. How big are these tiny magnetic particles?
2. Are there issues with the magnetic particles entering the body by accident?