Research teams such as Gunma University Graduate School have announced that they could be attenuated by adding a special carbon to the toxin of O157, a type of Escherichia coli, and it is expected that it will lead to the establishment of a treatment method in the future.
Associate Professor Hidetada Hirakawa of the Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University and a research team created by a chemical manufacturer have conducted experiments aimed at attenuating the verotoxins produced when humans are infected with O157.
As a result, it announced that it could be attenuated by adding special carbon used for storage batteries.
In an experiment to investigate the effect of special carbon in multiple mice infected with a pathogen similar to O157, they died by the 9th day after infection when carbon was not administered, whereas it was the longest when it was administered. Having lived in Japan for two weeks, the research group claims that it was able to attenuate it.
In addition, when this carbon was added to the culture solution of O157, the carbon adsorbed the toxin, so when administered to humans, the toxin may be excreted before it spreads throughout the body.
Since no radical cure for O157 infection has been established, the research group hopes that it will lead to the prevention and establishment of cures for food poisoning in the future.
Associate Professor Hirakawa said, "O157 has a very high risk of death due to severe illness in infants and the elderly. I would like to further research so that as many people as possible can be saved."