Thursday
Mar052009
Sean's Latest
Mar 5, 2009 at 08:23AM Been too tired, the pace and the heat are killer. Clinic is better than expected. Staff are top notch. What Don has done here is awesome, tons of solar capacity. I drink water constantly and yet hardly ever pee, don't sweat much either, all moisture evaporates rather instantaneously. Today it was 104 in the shade. Felt quite drained by the end of the first day, was downing Cliff Bar energy shots like mad, climate takes some getting used to. Flies are everywhere. New Cold chain may have helped save a life today - kid with a high temperature (104) was packed in icebags and this helped bring down her temp. I'm usually exhausted each day by about 3pm. The western medical personnel are inspiring to watch.
- Sean
Reader Comments (4)
For those interested in the cold chain issue:
Vaccines Without Refrigeration (http://biomimicry.typepad.com/newsletter/)
In combination with greater cleanliness and antibiotics,
vaccines have played a key role in improving health and
longevity. In the Western world, we take vaccines for
granted. Refrigeration is readily available to keep vaccines
within a narrow temperature range from manufacturing to
usage. In the developing world, this infrastructure often does
not exist. The World Trade Organization has estimated that
maintaining the ‘cold chain’ would cost U$200-300 million
annually, a sum that could be used instead to fund vaccine
doses and delivery, along with other preventative health care.
Aside from cold, another natural way to preserve organic
substances is dehydration. Unfortunately, dehydration can
cause damage to the folding structure of proteins, critical to
the protein’s proper function. A number of species such as the
African midge, brine shrimp and the resurrection plant are
able to survive dehydration by entering ‘anhydrobiosis’ – a
state in which the organism displays no metabolic activity yet
can recover when water becomes available. The ‘trick’
involves cells generating a sugary substance such as
trehalose. Although the exact details are still being studied,
the sugars appear to replace water and also form an
amorphous glassy matrix that slows protein unfolding.
Dr. Bruce Roser is a pioneer in exploring ways of storing
vaccines without refrigeration. Inspired by organisms that
undergo anhydrobiosis, he co-founded Cambridge
Biostability Limited in 1998 and is actively developing
technologies for stabilizing vaccines and other drugs. After
mixing the vaccine with water-soluble sugar glasses, the water
is removed and the result is formed into microspheres through
spray-drying. These microspheres can be mixed with an inert
anhydrous liquid and stored for extended periods at ambient
temperatures. The combination can be directly injected
without requiring that the dry vaccine be reconstituted with
water in a sterile environment. Dr. Roser is also exploring
how the sugar glass concept could be applied to improve
cryopreservation of tissues and organs.
This report of anhydrobiosis as a possibility for stabilizing vaccines is fascinating. After just having established a "cold chain" in South Sudan, where temperatures are often 118 F, this would be a wonderful solution, rather than having to maintain the refrigeration in this heat.
Thank you for informing me about this prospect.
Barbara Connor, MD
medical director Duk Lost Boys Clinic
South Sudan
John Dau Foundation
Hi Sean- hope you are well. Mary sends her best . email a way to contact you when you get a chance. thx
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