Washington U. researchers discover plague's weakness

Talk about going medieval. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a weakness in the Yersinia pestis bacteria — the pnuemonic plague that once ravaged Europe — that could make the deadly bug easier to treat. Readers may be shocked to hear it, but the plague still exists, most notably in Africa, and many are concerned that it might be an ideal weapon for terrorists. According to experts, the plague can kill within three days after infection, but by the time the victim is aware of it, it may be too late to administer antibiotics. The research by the Washington University scientists hopes to change these unfortunate outcomes.

In a recently published report in the journal Science, the researchers explain that the course of infection is inhibitred when the bacteria cannot use a key protein known as a plasminogen activator, which scientists believe is used to break open protective blood clots that the body forms to try to limit the spread of an infection. Having created a mutant version of the Yersinia bacteria without the protein, the researchers observed that mice exposed to it became ill but then quickly recovered, suggesting that the bacteria had failed to inhibit the body’s natural clotting defenses. (The mice eventually died from bloodstream infections.) The hope is to develop medications that can replicate this process, or at least slow down the infection so that antibiotics have time to work their magic.

-read more in Will Dunham’s Scientific American report