New Research Shows That Salmonella May Be Used To Fight Viral Infections

California food poisoning lawyers could soon come across the deadly salmonella bacteria, not as a dangerous food contaminant that's responsible for hundreds of thousands of infections every year, but as a tool to fight viral infections. New research that has just been published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found salmonella can be used to combat illness, especially viral-based infections.

Scientists at University of California were able to reprogram the pathogen to transmit disease-fighting enzymes directly into cells without causing disease. The Salmonella pathogens were basically genetically engineered, and packed with potent enzymes to fight viral infections. This is the first time that a bacterial pathogen has been used to fight viral infections through genetic programming.

According to the researchers, they found it particularly easy to work with Salmonella, since this bacteria has evolved to survive the human digestive system. Therefore, the Salmonella can be swallowed, and doesn't have to be inhaled or injected. According to the scientists, this is the first gene therapy for viral infections that can actually be taken orally, making it far more convenient than administering therapy through an injection. The researchers have successfully tested the Salmonella therapy on mice.

The study involved mice, which were injected with cytomegalovirus, an organism of the same family as the chickenpox virus. Some mice were injected with the so-called "designer Salmonella" that was packed with disease-fighting enzymes, but had all of its infection-causing properties removed. The researchers found that the mice that had not been treated with the Salmonella died within 25 days from the viral infection. However, the mice that had been injected with the reprogrammed Salmonella with the disease-fighting properties, were living even after 50 days. Besides, the mice that had the Salmonella injections had approximately 400 to 600 times less quantity of the virus in their systems, compared to the other mice.

The implications of the disease-fighting qualities of the re-engineered Salmonella, are astounding. Already, there is talk of developing gene-targeting therapies through the reengineered Salmonella. This study only focused on the use of Salmonella to fight viral infections. However, there has been enough success with this study to be hopeful that this Salmonella therapy could be used in the future to treat other conditions, maybe even cancer.

Considering that salmonella is one of the top three food-borne pathogens in the US, California food poisoning attorneys would probably like to wait for more research before this so-called "designer salmonella" is promoted as a therapy. After all, the Salmonella bacterium is responsible for sickening hundreds of thousands of people every year. Salmonellosis symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and nausea. The infection can strike just about anyone, but the weak, the elderly and people with a weakened immune system may have a higher risk of contracting the infection.