Many of us living in the Western world have had our fair share of experiences with antibiotics: you get sick, you take the pills, you get better. But that reality comes with the steep requirement that you, the person taking them, have a fully functional immune system. What would happen to someone that lacked that and were entirely immunocompromised? As it turns out, even the most commonplace of infections could prove fatal to those types of individuals. Even more shocking, those same antibiotics that you or I take, do little to nothing for people suffering immune deficiency.
Traditionally, if someone with immune deficiency falls ill to an infection, from the moment of the diagnosis onward, the clock is ticking. It takes extreme detail and precise targeting of the microbiological infection to give the patient a hope of surviving. Under many circumstances, death is an expected outcome. Up until recently, it wasn't know of that there existed other routes of treatment, and people just wish for the best with what medicine was available. A new compound derived from eushearilide may be the answer to those wishes. It has been seen in recent studies to possess antibacterial and antifungal properties, capable of treating infections of the lung, meningitis, and encephalitis.
This compound, usharelide, formed from 23-demethyleushearilide, has two variations that have been documented to hold these antimicrobial properties and can be used to help those with acute and time sensitive infections, such as patients with compromised immune systems. A particularly interesting observation too is that it has been shown to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which is actually resistant against methicillin. Usharelide, being effective against this antibiotic-resistant and extremely lethal infection (for those with immune deficiency), is already showing its extreme potential for use and value in the medical world. An issue still, however, is that many of the properties of this fungal derived treatment are still unknown and little research is being done in the scientific community to uncover them. Many people and professionals in the medical community are still ignorant to the potentially life-saving abilities of this compound despite it first being observed over a decade ago. Like many things in the scientific world, this potentially life-changing for many discovery, should definitely be more pursued by research so that the world may one day be able to fully benefit from all of its untapped potentials.
Posted by Brian Lee (2)
I agree that this alternative treatment of eushearilide for those with immune deficiencies should be studied more within the scientific community. The research would not only help people with autoimmune disorders, but it would aid in fighting against antibiotic resistance strains.
ReplyDeletePosted by Lauren Shone
I entirely agree that these leads in the scientific community should be pursued further, because they clearly have instant application and benefits for nearly everyone. Antibiotic resistant diseases are becoming a huge problem, and the more that we have to fight against them, the better.
DeletePosted by Brian Lee
The way I understand it, a large reason why antibiotics are not effective and, in fact, harmful to immunocompromised patients is because they destroy gut flora (which leaves immunocompromised patients more susceptible to infection). I also understand that the developing treatment of eushearilide is promising because of its antifungal and antibacterial properties. If this is the case, why would eushearilide be more effective than antibiotics? Wouldn't eushearilide's antibacterial properties also destroy gut flora leaving patients more prone to infection?
ReplyDelete-David Frykenberg
very interesting topic. Antibiotic resistant bacteria is currently causing a major health scare. Your typical bacterial infections now are resistant to the common dosage. I agree euishearilide should be research if it seems that it may be promising .
ReplyDeletevery interesting topic. Antibiotic resistant bacteria is currently causing a major health scare. Your typical bacterial infections now are resistant to the common dosage. I agree euishearilide should be research if it seems that it may be promising .
ReplyDelete- Fredjah Desmezeaux
I found this topic really interesting. I'm always fascinated by new discoveries that are being made in the medical field. I wonder why more research is not being done? Like you mentioned, the compound derived from eushearilide is showing promising results as it is capable of treating infections. I think that this should become a more important topic due to the fact that it is always better to have more alternatives to curing illnesses. I'm sure that it is not an easy or cheap process but it definitely could be worth while. It also can be really risky when attempting to test these other forms of treatment as they are unaware of the possible side effects. So many different cases are being brought up everyday, this discovery may have the potential to help a lot of people in the future.
ReplyDeletePosted by Matt Cayer
So essentially, this is a new antibiotic? I wonder how it compares to penicillin, whether stronger or weaker. If it compares favorably to penicillin then it is actually an invaluable resource due to the ability of many bacterium beginning to withstand the affects of penicillin due to its widespread use.
ReplyDeletePosted by Isaac Collibee
This new compound has been seen favorable in comparison to traditional treatments, as mentioned in the post it was seen to be more effective against a penicillin-resistant bacterium in Staphylococcus aureus. This is great news but alas more work should be done in terms of research and testing and development to further understand the properties of this newly derived substance, despite how great the effects early on may seem.
DeletePosted by Brian Lee
I really enjoyed reading your post, I didn't know that antibiotics were only effective on people with fully functional immune systems. This seems counter intuitive since people with compromised immune systems would need efficient antibiotics more than those with functional immune systems. The discovery of Usharelide has the potential to save countless lives by revolutionizing our fight against antibiotic resistance, and infection in immunocompromised patients. Hopefully more studies can be conducted in the near future to help better understand and identify compounds medicinal benefits.
ReplyDeletePosted by Kayla Rosiello