Dr. Saul Tzipori, a principal researcher for an eight-year E. coli research project at Tufts' Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, has made significant progress in developing a successful antibiotic for E. coli bacteria.
Tzipori's work was brought to light recently with the recent E. coli 0157, or Escherichia coli 0157, outbreak in spinach that infected roughly 200 people in 23 states in late September and killed several people.
Tzipori and his team have been working at the Cummings Veterinary School to develop an antibiotic that would counter the toxins from E. coli before they hit the bloodstream.
While the drug is intended for people, Tzipori's research is conducted at the Veterinary school because "we have used germ-free pigs to test our antibodies up to this point," Tzipori said.
In 2003, the Cummings School received a $25 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of National Institute of Health. The grant is awarded specifically for research on food-, water-, and animal-spread diseases that could potentially be used as bioterrorist weapons.
Tufts is one of eight schools in a "network" for this sort of research, according to Assistant Director of Public Relations for the Cummings School Barbara Donato.
"The award was given a few years after the Sept. 11 attacks when possibilities of bioterrorism were on people's minds," Donato said. "But even in the absence of bioterror concerns, food and waterborne diseases are responsible for 76 million illnesses and about 5,000 death every year in the U.S. The spinach recall last month is just one example."
Indeed, while the risk of getting infected with E. coli bacteria is very low, it has not been eliminated, Tzipori said. "These things happen - you can get E. coli simply from drinking milk or swimming in a pool with another infected kid," he said.
The E. coli bacteria is found in beef products or in foods, such as spinach and other vegetables, that could have come in contact with cattle manure, used as fertilizer in many places.
Infection from E. coli becomes apparent in the body anywhere from two to five days after the patient's first exposure. The patient can then develop bloody diarrhea which can persist for up to eight days.
Most adults recover quickly from an E. coli infection, although some suffer from mild to severe kidney damage. "E. coli is much more damaging to kids - they are much more likely to get kidney complications that will become fatal, if not severely damaging," Tzipori said.
Dr. Arthur Donohue-Rolfe, a member of Tzipori's team, cited the main point of the study as "understanding, first in a test tube, what the affects of the developed antibodies will have on the toxins [produced by E. coli]."
The study began eight years ago, and the team is now ready to begin testing the drug on humans. In the spring, in what Tzipori describes as "phase one" of the testing, healthy adult volunteers will be injected with the antibiotics that have been developed.
According to Tzipori, researchers begin testing on patients without the E. coli bacteria is to determine if the antibodies are "safe, how long they will last in the blood stream, and the correct dosages needed for the drug to be effective."
Phase two of the testing involves administering the drug to people who are actually affected by E. coli. In phase three, the drug will be tested on what Tzipori describes as the "general population."
Even after the test phases, it will not be available for use for at least another three years because the FDA "always seems to take forever," said Tzipori.
It is not uncommon for research projects to take years to develop. "Of course, you have to have more than an inkling that it will work out in the beginning," Tzipori said, who has been working on a study involving the HIV/AIDS virus for almost 16 years.
He came Tufts Veterinary School 16 years ago because he was interested in an advanced study of opportunistic infections with the HIV/AIDS virus, which he is still continuing to research.
Donohue-Rolfe joined Tzipori's team from New England Medical Center (NEMC), and cited Tufts' studies on E. Coli to be among the most competitive in the nation.
"You have to be aware that most diseases you work on don't occur often here, and are instead more common in developing countries," Tzipori said. For example, while most of the research on Cholera or the HIV/AIDS virus in conducted in the United States, the actual diseases themselves are most common in developing countries.
E. coli, however, occurs with frequency in all countries, as the recent U.S. outbreak shows.
Measures can be taken to prevent outbreaks, however. "Never use a cutting board without washing it before and after use, and cooking hamburgers until they're no longer pink in the center is also important," Donahue-Rolfe said.
As for fresh fruits and vegetables, Donahue-Rolfe and Tzipori agree that one can never be entirely sure about the timing or whereabouts of the next outbreak.
