A diverse family of bacteria that can cause a potentially fatal illness in humans but could offer a greener alternative to petrol to power our cars will be the subject of a talk by a University of Nottingham academic at an international conference.
Professor Nigel Minton, one of the world's leading experts on the Clostridium bacteria, will be presenting at the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM) annual Winter Meeting, being held at the Royal Society in London on January 12. In his presentation Professor Minton will discuss the potential exploitation of the anaerobic, Gram-positive Clostridium bacteria — a few strains of which have given the genus a bad name.
Clostridium difficile infection is the most significant cause of hospital-acquired diarrhoea and is seven times more deadly than MRSA. The bacterium is present in the gut of up to three per cent of healthy adults and 66 per cent of infants. Usually it is kept in check by the healthy balance of bacteria in the gut but when this is disturbed by certain antibiotics, C.difficile can multiply rapidly and produce toxins that cause illness and death. The disease is spread through spores, usually from poor hygiene. The emergence of highly virulent clones means that cases and fatalities from the illness are on the increase.
In addition, there has been heightened public concern in recent years about the potential use by bioterrorists of the food-borne pathogen Clostridium botulinum, which causes the rare but serious paralytic illness botulism.M I B S I T B T
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