A DRUG used to treat cystitis may protect surgeons who accidentally expose
themselves to infection by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Moira Bruce and her colleagues at the Institute for Animal Health in
Edinburgh found that the drug, called pentosan polysulphate, increased the
incubation period of scrapie, a related disease. Seven hours after mice were
given a fatal dose of scrapie-infected brain tissue, they were injected with 1
milligram of the drug. In one mouse strain, this increased the incubation period
by 65 per cent. In another two strains, it protected the animals completely
(The Lancet, vol 353, p 117).
Bruce says the drug may offer protection to neurosurgeons who cut themselves
while operating on patients who have CJD. 鈥淏ut the key is knowing when infection
occurs and acting quickly,鈥� she says. Bruce believes the drug is unlikely to
have much effect once symptoms start to show. However, her team already has
evidence from other animal studies that a biochemical called fibroblast growth
factor may delay the progress of scrapie even at this late stage.
Advertisement
