A simple mutant gene was recently discovered by researchers at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston that had the ability of decreasing the probability of one contracting the dangerous flesh-eating disease known as necrotizing fasciitis. The study also showed that it was possible to lessen the effect that such a devastating disease had on the body by inactivating a part section of the gene.
Recent findings of this study that was funded by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, were published in the online editorial of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)”.
Co-director of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Musser stated that this recent study now opens up a world of possibility in relation to studying how disease develops at the lowest level. “Now that we have been able to identify a gene mutation that can directly effect a disease, as is the case with the flesh-eating bacteria, we can go ahead and find out how to possibly create cures and treatments for those that suffer from it."
While it is quite rare, Necrotizing Fasciitis is very deadly. 30 percent of those that contract it die. The most common cause of this disease is the Group A Streptococcus (GAS) bacteria that can also cause step throat.
"Although we knew that single-nucleotide changes were one of the reasons as to the cause for the variation in genetics, there has been remarkably little research and information that has been done in respect to the damaging effects that this bacteria has,” says Musser. "It is caused by some sort of mutation in the GAS genome that results in this Necrotizing Fasciitis."
An analysis was carried out by Dr. James Musser and his team on GAS strains that were taken from those patients suffering from strep-related diseases. The analysis showed that a naturally occurring mutation in this genome brought about the destruction of the face. The study also showed that this mutation resulted in a segment of the gene turning off, thereby reducing the natural ability of the body to destroy this disease that destroys the soft tissue of the body.
By utilizing an integrated systems biology strategy, the conducted study showed that there was early termination of the MtsR protein by the MtsR mutation. It was also observed that the inactivation of the MtsR caused this flesh eating disease.
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Flesh eating disease
When I was in Africa I ran into a girl who had a Flesh eating disease all over her right arm, the top of her chest, and half way down her back. I asked the villagers through an interpreter if she had seen a Doctor, and they said yes, she had gone to several Doctors but there was no cure for the disease. I asked what would happen to her? And they said that the disease would soon spread down her chest and eat through her stomach, and her guts would burst open and she would die. I said “O my God we need to try to do something to help her!”
I had brought some medicine with me from the U.S. in case I got sick in the middle of nowhere. So I gave her some “Bactrin” which is an anti-biotic similar to Penicillin, and a bar of Ivory Soap. I told her that the Bactrin would help fight the disease on the inside, while the Soap would fight the disease on the outside.
I explained to her that there were little tinny bugs inside the scabby disease that were eating through her skin, and that she needed to soak off in water as much of the scabby disease as possible. And then put a little bit of water on top of the bar of Ivory Soap and rub it to make a paste, and dab the paste on the raw open wounds. I told her that it would burn like hell for a minute or so, but then it would start to feel much better. I told her to leave the soap on the wounds all the time to keep them from getting infected, and to wash it off and apply new soap twice a day.
I had to leave to work on a dam project, but 8 weeks later I returned to her village and it had killed the disease. You could see the new skin on her back and there was no ugly scaring or discoloration of skin.
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