Hospital Infections, MRSA, C. Difficile and NDM-1 Superbugs
Can beta glucan food
supplements help reduce the risk of contracting hospital infections?
A healthy immune system can help us resist infection and
recover quicker from illness. For those of us with lowered immunity
levels or
are exposed to an environment where we are at high risk of picking up
an
infection, such as when we have to stay in hospital, food supplements
containing beta glucans from yeast, beta(1,3)(1,6)glucan, may be able
to help us
maintain
our resistance to infection.
Infections with C difficile can also trigger irritable bowel syndrome and IBS symptoms.
Yeast contains complex carbohydrates called beta (1,3)(1,6)
glucans in their cell walls that can be extracted, purified and can be
provided
as a food supplement tablet such as Wellmune WGP or used in hospitals
in an
injectable form known as PGG-glucan. Beta glucans can also be found in
plants
as well as fungi and bacteria.
Basically, beta glucans are just long chains of glucose
molecules that are linked together. The biological properties of the
beta
glucan chain depends on its length, position of the links and
whether there
are any chains branching off the main chain. Beta glucans from cereals
such as
oats have different chain lengths, link position and branching compared
to beta
glucans from yeast.
Oat beta glucan and yeast beta glucan. Which is best?
Although beta glucans made from cereals can be cheaper than
beta glucans from yeast, it is the specific beta (1,3)(1,6) glucan from
baker’s
yeast that has been proven to be an important modulator of the immune
system.
Some yeast beta glucan preparations may have less side effects than
others. For
example, Wellmune WGP beta (1,3)(1,6) glucan from yeast is purified by
a
specific pharmaceutical process to remove harmful mannans reducing the
chances
of triggering inflammatory bowel disease and is also safe for people
with yeast
allergies.
Laboratory studies have shown how yeast beta glucans can
help us fight infections and control certain forms of cancer. Human
trials have
shown similar encouraging clinical effects but it is inevitable that
more
research will be needed to fully appreciate the benefits and
limitations of
this important class of immunomodulating compounds.
What
evidence is there that yeast beta glucans could offer an opportunity to
prevent and treat hospital infections in the future?
Wellmune WGP beta(1,3)(1,6) glucan, the patented, purified
ingredient of Finvita Beta Glucan has been shown to protect mice from
bacterial
infections where 100% of mice were observed to survive a lethal dose of
anthrax
(6). Good evidence of the effectiveness of beta(1,3)(1,6) glucan exists
in
humans too. Clinical studies have shown a significant reduction in the
number
of infections in high risk surgery patients being treated with beta
(1,3)(1,6)
glucan in three separate independent trials (5).
Yeast based beta glucan supplements have also been shown to
enhance the removal of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) and
increase the effectiveness of common antibiotics (5)(6) and may be a
future
tool to help fight hospital infections.
Beta glucans taken orally, such as in a food supplement
tablet, pass through our stomach and are absorbed by specialist areas
of our
small intestine by cells that break down the large whole beta glucan
particles
(WGP) into fragments that bind to our most abundant immune cells – the
neutrophils.
The reason that beta(1,3)(1,6) glucan works, is that it
binds to specific beta glucan receptors such as Dectin-1 and complement
receptor 3 (CR3) that are present on our immune cells.
Once beta glucan is bound to these receptors
our immune cells are more effective at recognising and destroying
bacteria and
viruses – a key role as our first line of defence against infection.
Hospital infections – key facts
- 5000
patients die in England
and Wales
each year
as a result of picking up an infection during a stay in hospital (1)
- 1 in 10 of
us will pick up an infection during our stay in hospital
- The elderly
and those with a lowered immunity are at greatest risk
- The urinary
tract is the most common site of infection picked up in hospital
- More than
300,000 patients in England
acquire a hospital infection every year (2)
- Hospital
acquired infections (HAI) are defined as infections that develop in a
patient
48 hours or longer after admission – if symptoms appear before 48 hours
it is
likely that the infection was picked up before admission
- Not all
hospital infections are caused by the superbugs MRSA and C. difficile,
one of
the most common HAIs is E. coli
- Around a
third of us are carriers of Staphylococcus aureus without developing
any
symptoms only 3% of us carry the antibiotic resistant form - meticillin
resistant S. aureus (MRSA)
- MRSA is no
more infectious than ordinary S. aureus but it is difficult to treat
with
common antibiotics
- Poor
standards of hygiene leading to hospital infections not only has a big
impact
on the patient and their family but also on the NHS resources required
to
prevent and treat HAI
- Hospital
infections cause a vicious circle of high bed occupancy rate leading to
increased opportunity for infection transmission and then higher bed
occupancy
rates (3)
- In 2007,
the UK Government gave Strategic Hospitals a budget of £50m
specifically to
combat hospital acquired infections
- Most
hospital infections are transmitted from person to person on hands –
adequate
hand washing is key to reducing HAI
- Upto to a
third of hospital infections could be prevented through improved
practice and
application of existing knowledge
- Elderly
patients and patients with a weakened immune system have a higher risk
of
contracting a hospital infection
- Inappropriate
use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of resistant strains such
as MRSA
- Rates of
infection by superbugs MRSA and C. difficile have fallen in recent
years as
government targets are addressed but still account for 2000 infections
in
patients every month
- The general
failure to monitor infection by bugs other than MRSA and C. difficile
means
that 8 in 10 hospital infections may go unreported and that the rate of
infection by these other bacteria may be increasing (2)
- NDM-1
superbug is a new type of antibiotic resistant bacteria emerging in UK
hospitals originating in Asia. NDM-1 is a major concern as bacteria
carrying this gene are incredibly resistant to even the strongest and
most toxic antibiotics we have. Experts from the UK's Health Protection
Agency (HPA) are concerned that it could spread rapidly from
person to person
- People most at risk of acquiring the NDM-1 superbug would be those with weakened immune systems
- Experts
believe that most new drugs currently being developed will be useless
against the NDM-1 superbugs. In the meantime, hospitals are advised to
provide good infection control
- The
combination of an environment rich in antibiotic resistant bacteria,
close
proximity of patients in crowded wards, ease of transmission of
infection
between patients, staff and visitors together with the lowered immune
defences
creates a melting pot for hospital infections to thrive
- Attention
to personal hygiene of patients, visitors and staff can help reduce
transmission of hospital acquired infections (3)
- Use alcohol
hand gel whenever provided and follow procedures from nursing staff
- Ensure
hospital staff are aware if you are currently taking antibiotics or
have
diarrhoea or vomiting
References
(1)
Welsh
Healthcare Associated Infection Programme
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/home.cfm?OrgID=379
(2)
Daily
Telegraph 10th November 2009
(3)
Preventing
Infection on the Frontline, The Patients Association, May, 2008
(4)
Dellinger
E.P. etal. (1999)Effect of PGG-glucan on the rate of serious
postoperative
infection or death observed after high risk gastointetinal operations.
Arch
Surg. 134(9):977-83
(5)
Liang, J. et
al. (1998) Enhanced clearance of a multiple antibiotic-resistant
Staphylococcus
aureus in rats treated with PGG-glucan is associated with increased
leukocyte
counts and increased neutrophil oxidative burst activity. Int. J.
Immunopharmacol.1998.20:595-614
(6)
Thompson IJ.
Et al (2010) Potential of the beta-glucans to enhance innate resistance
to
biological agents.Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther. 8(3),339-352
