Posted on 09/22/2010 9:52:44 AM PDT by decimon
he antibacterial ingredient in some soaps, toothpastes, odor-fighting socks, and even computer keyboards is pointing scientists toward a long-sought new treatment for a parasitic disease that affects almost two billion people. Their report on how triclosan became the guiding light for future development of drugs for toxoplasmosis appears in ACS' monthly Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
In the study, Rima McLeod and colleagues point out that toxoplasmosis is one of the world's most common parasitic infections, affecting about one-third of the world population, including 80 percent of the population of Brazil. People can catch the infection, spread by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), from contact with feces from infected cats, eating raw or undercooked meat, and in other ways. Many have no symptoms because their immune systems keep the infection under control and the parasite remains inactive. But it can cause eye damage and other problems, even becoming life threatening in individuals with immune systems weakened by certain medications and diseases like HIV infection, which allow the parasite to become active again, and in some persons without immune compromise. Most current treatments have some potentially harmful side effects and none of them attack the parasite in its inactive stage.
The scientists knew from past research that triclosan has a powerful effect in blocking the action of a key enzyme that T. gondii uses to live. Triclosan, however, cannot be used as a medication because it does not dissolve in the blood. The scientists describe using triclosan's molecular structure as the model for developing other potential medications, including some that show promise as more effective treatments for the disease.
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ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Identification and Development of Novel Inhibitors of Toxoplasma gondii Enoyl Reductase"
DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/abs/10.1021/jm9017724
CONTACT: Rima McLeod, M.D. Biological Sciences Division The University of Chicago AMB S206, (MC 2114) 5841 South Maryland Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 Phone: 773-834-4130 Fax: 773-834-3577 Email: rmcleod@midway.uchicago.edu
Two billion ping.
Wonder how many Americans have this either from local sources or from foreign travel.
Evidence shows that it can be a positive infection for women:
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/labels/Personality.php
Here’s a theory that its spread from Latin America to Europe led to the heights of Western creativity:
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/05/toxoplasma-gondiis-south-american.php
I eat toohhpaste 3 times a day.
Hasn't improved your stammer. ;-)
Interesting.
Thanks. That a parasitic infection would alter disposition is unexpected. By me, anyway.
We have so little understanding of what’s ‘us’ and what’s something else, what causes disease and what causes health, and and what is nature vs. nurture vs. something else in personality that we should all be humbled.
triclosan ping. :’) Thanks decimon, I feel better already.
As well you should under the influence of my postings. ;-)
If this is just a question of solubility, some chemical modifications of the Triclosan molecule might do the trick.
bump
Ping....
Or it can be given a “candy coating” to make it both ‘soluble’ (in the sense that even though it doesn’t dissolve, it is suspended on a nanomolecular level in plasma) and yummy to Toxoplasma gondii.
I thought that stuff was banned in soaps in the US some time ago because of a possible connection with birth defects.
There was a lotion soap product out many years ago that contained that ingredient. Phisoderm, IIRC.
From Wikipedia:
Toxoplasma gondii is a species of parasitic protozoa in the genus Toxoplasma. The definitive host of T. gondii is the cat, but the parasite can be carried by many warm-blooded animals (birds or mammals). Toxoplasmosis, the disease of which T. gondii is the causative agent, is usually minor and self-limiting but can have serious or even fatal effects on a fetus whose mother first contracts the disease during pregnancy or on an immunocompromised human or cat.
About 30 million Americans are believed to be infected with Toxoplasmosis protozoa.
A very important part of the disease is its ability, found in many parasites, to alter the brain of its host. In rodents, mostly mice and rats, this is seen in making them self-destructive, so that they will be eaten by cats, so that the protozoa can be spread in the cat’s feces.
It does this by making rodents, that normally have a strong revulsion to cat urine, instead be attracted to it, thus putting them in harms way. It may even alter their brain so much that they are attracted to their natural enemy itself, becoming suicidal.
This very specialized brain modification could be very important, because human brains are not structurally very different from rodent brains.
I am thinking less that 30 million Americans might be attracted to cat urine, than that they might be weirdly suicidal, by being attracted to our national enemies, and destructive forces, ways to harm themselves and our nation.
That is, Democrats.
Thanks for the ping!
Phisohex was the best...it was used in hospitals for years, then all of a sudden it was banned. Hospital infections soared.
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