Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a disease that afflicts at least 18,000 Australians a year. The syndrome involves an overreaction in the body’s immune system, which causes permanent damage to tissues and organs within the body.
Sadly, it takes more than 5,000 lives annually in this country. However, 40 percent of our population has never heard of it.
The syndrome, more commonly known as sepsis, has similar symptoms to the flu. Because of this, in many cases, sepsis goes undiagnosed or mistaken for conditions such as gastro. Yet the effects are devastating.
The stories of sepsis sufferers are tragic. Such stories include that of Hayden, who at 14 months of age went to sleep with a temperature and died a short time later. Likewise, mother-of-two Korina had two limbs amputated due to an undiagnosed case of sepsis.
Currently, sepsis is treated with antibiotics. However, the risk of permanent damage from the disease rises by 4 per cent to 8 per cent each hour after the onset of symptoms. Therefore, time is critical when dealing with sepsis.
Researchers at the University of Queensland are progressing a new treatment, which uses a new protein known as EphA4-Fc. This protein can help repair and avoid damage to the cells lining the blood vessels when they are exposed to permanent damage due to the body’s inflammatory immune response.
By limiting or preventing this reaction, it will stop any fluid from leaking into surrounding tissues. It is this leakage that diverts blood flow away from vital organs and can lead to organ failure or, in the worst case, death.
Pre-clinical studies for this treatment are now being prepared, following successful animal trials.
Read more about sepsis in this article and see what the researchers are saying about the new treatment in this article.