Scientists raise hope of vaccine against spider bites
Venomous spider bites can cause
open sores, internal bleeding and kidney failure
A jab that protects against poisonous
spider venom may become a reality one day, early research suggests.
Brazilian scientists created a synthetic protein that protected rabbits from the effects of spider poison in experiments.
A new generation of anti-venom vaccines could save thousands of lives a year, researchers report in Vaccine journal.
The spider tested, belonging to the genus Loxosceles, injures almost 7,000 people a year in Brazil alone.
Members of this group of spiders, which are found worldwide, include the reaper or brown spider.
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End Quote Dr Carlos Chavez-Olortegui Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisWe wanted to develop a new way of protecting people from the effects of these spider bites without having to suffer from side-effects”
Their bite causes open sores and can lead to more
serious effects such as internal bleeding and kidney failure.
In experiments, researchers used part of the spider toxin to create a synthetic protein designed to raise antibodies against the venom.
"Existing anti-venoms are made of the pure toxins and can be harmful to people who take them," said Dr Carlos Chávez-Olortegui, of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil.
"We wanted to develop a new way of protecting people from the effects of these spider bites without having to suffer from side-effects."
Scientists say the research could be the start of a new generation of anti-venom vaccines capable of saving thousands of lives worldwide.
The researchers tested the new protein on rabbits in the laboratory.
They say immunised rabbits were protected from skin damage at the site of venom injection, and from haemorrhaging.
The research is reported in the journal Vaccine.
Flu in pregnancy 'may raise bipolar risk for baby'
Flu during pregnancy may increase the
risk of the unborn child developing bipolar disorder later in life, research
suggests.
A study of 814 expectant women, published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed that infection made bipolar four times more likely.
The overall risk remained low, but it echoes similar findings linking flu and schizophrenia.
Experts said the risks were small and women should not worry.
Bipolar leads to intense mood swings, which can last months, ranging from depression and despair to manic feelings of joy, overactivity and loss of inhibitions.
Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center identified a link between the condition, often diagnosed during late teens and twenties, and experiences in the womb.
In their study looking at people born in the early 1960s, bipolar disorder was nearly four times as common in people whose mothers caught flu during pregnancy.
The condition affects about one in 100 people. The lead researcher, Prof Alan Brown, estimated that influenza infection during pregnancy could lead to a 3-4% chance of bipolar disorder in the resulting children.
However, in the vast majority of cases of bipolar disorder there would no history of flu.
Seasonal vaccination
So in the list of things pregnant women have to worry about, how high should it rank?
"I wouldn't say high," Prof Alan Brown told the BBC.
"The chances are still quite small. I don't think it should raise alarms for mothers."
He said seasonal flu vaccination, which is advised for pregnant women in many countries, would reduce the chances of catching flu.
Similar studies have shown a link between flu and schizophrenia
How flu could affect the foetal brain has not been completely explained.
Influenza is not thought to directly affect the foetus, but the mother's immune response to the virus could affect development.
Dr Fiona Gaughran, lead consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This highly regarded group of researchers has reported similar links between schizophrenia and various maternal infections.
"If future work confirms the link reported here, policymakers may need to consider implications for flu prevention pre-pregnancy, but mothers need not be worried.
"The overall risk of offspring developing bipolar disorder is low, even if one did get flu in pregnancy."
Haiti cholera victims threaten to sue the UN
The victims include the
families of the 8000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people
who have fallen sick
Victims of Haiti's cholera epidemic
have given the United Nations a 60-day deadline to start talks about billions of
dollars worth of compensation or face legal action.
The UN is accused of negligently allowing peacekeeping soldiers to pollute Haiti's water with cholera.
A UN cholera expert agrees that this is "most likely" to be true.
The UN rejected an earlier call for compensation and continues to insist it is immune from legal proceedings.
Continue reading the main story
Every time I write about the cholera crisis in Haiti I have to pinch myself
to make sure I'm not having a horrible daydream - because the apparent facts are
almost unbelievable.
The UN is an organisation committed to doing good; I've seen it strive to do so in many parts of the world.
But the available evidence does indicate that peacekeepers from Nepal inadvertently spread deadly cholera into the main waterway of one of the poorest, most vulnerable countries on earth.
One of the UN's own cholera experts, Danielle Lantagne, told me it was "most likely" the outbreak began in the Nepali camp.
The UN says it is immune from compensation claims.
But in private UN officials say the world body is facing a moral crisis over this case.
They may be about to face a very public legal crisis as well.
Analysis
The UN is an organisation committed to doing good; I've seen it strive to do so in many parts of the world.
But the available evidence does indicate that peacekeepers from Nepal inadvertently spread deadly cholera into the main waterway of one of the poorest, most vulnerable countries on earth.
One of the UN's own cholera experts, Danielle Lantagne, told me it was "most likely" the outbreak began in the Nepali camp.
The UN says it is immune from compensation claims.
But in private UN officials say the world body is facing a moral crisis over this case.
They may be about to face a very public legal crisis as well.
The cholera epidemic began in Haiti in 2010 near a camp
for UN soldiers, where there were leaking sewage pipes. Some human waste was
also dumped near a river outside the camp.
The camp housed UN soldiers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. The UN's own cholera expert, Danielle Lantagne, has said that Haiti's outbreak is likely to have come from UN soldiers.
The victims include relatives of the 8,000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people who have fallen sick.
Lawyers for the victims say the UN is breaking international law.
They say they will open legal proceedings in New York with claims totalling many billions of dollars if the UN does not start talks within 60 days.
The lawyers say they will file claims for $100,000 (£64,000) for the families of those who have died and $50,000 (£32,000) for every one of the hundreds of thousands who have fallen sick.
The UN's relative silence on the matter so far may be because it simply does not know what to do in the face of what could be a series of catastrophic and deadly errors, says the BBC's International Development Correspondent Mark Doyle.
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