以毒攻毒：用病毒对抗致命大肠杆菌

http://www.100md.com 2001年7月26日 家庭医生医疗保健网

     路透社多伦多消息 加拿大科学家希望能利用一种病毒来对付致命的大肠杆菌，该细菌曾在去年导致加拿大安大略省沃克顿一个镇近2,000人染病，7人死亡。

    这种致命的大肠杆菌通常是通过进食没有煮熟的污染牛肉或者饮用被牛粪污染的水而进入人体致病的，可导致肾病甚至死亡。直至2000年5月，沃克顿大肠杆菌病爆发后8个月，当地卫生局才地宣布自来水可以饮用。

    科学家的想法是将病毒放置在动物的饮用水中，让动物喝到体内，攻击动物体内的致命大肠杆菌。要向加拿大的农场推广这种方法，首先必须经卫生局批准。现在，他们正把研究精力集中在一种能感染157号大肠杆菌的亲细菌病毒上。

    沃克顿所在的省目前仍然在调查，这种细菌是怎样通过动物的排泄物进入沃克顿的供水系统的。

    Canadian Scientists May Use Virus to Fight E.Coli

    TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian scientists want to use a virus to fight the deadly E. Coli bacteria which killed seven and sickened 2,000 in the small town of Walkerton, Ontario, last year.

    The experts said on Thursday that their idea would use viruses placed in animals‘ drinking water to attack the bacteria in their guts. But health authorities would have to approve any efforts to introduce the system on Canadian farms.

    ``Right now we‘re focusing on work with bacteriophages, which are sort of like viruses that infect the E. Coli 157,‘‘ said Tim McAllister, a research scientist seconded to Alberta‘s Lethbridge Research Centre by Agriculture Canada.

    ``I think it has quite a bit of potential... (But) it‘s a ways away yet. There‘s a number of regulatory issues we‘d have to address before we could release it to the public.‘‘

    Illness from E.Coli is usually transmitted by the consumption of undercooked ground beef, or by swallowing water that has come into contact with infected manure, as happened in Walkerton.

    It took eight months from the May 2000 Walkerton E. Coli outbreak before local health authorities were confident enough to declare unboiled water fit to drink.

    A provincial inquiry is still probing how and why the bacteria, which is hatched in animal feces, got into the Walkerton water supply.

    Infection by the antibiotic-resistant bacteria can cause kidney problems or even death.

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