Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Horseshoe crab

Morgan - 28-11-2018 at 07:29

"It is used to test for contamination during the manufacture of anything that might go inside the human body: every shot, every IV drip, and every implanted medical device."

"Doctors first realized this in the late 19th century, where patients given sterile shots nevertheless came down with “injection fever” or “saline fever.” In the worst cases, the toxins can cause septic shock and even death."

The Last Days of the Blue-Blood Harvest
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/blood-in...

Tsjerk - 28-11-2018 at 10:35

Yep, works great for detecting antigens like lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which can cause septic shock. The amount of LPS needed to induce septic shock in sensitized patients is incredibly small, there is no method sensitive enough to detect it except for horseshoe crab blood.

Edit: LPS is a bitch, imaging having to prepare parenteral feeding suspension, people receiving this kind of feeding are susceptible to about anything... You can't heat your organically grown product to destroy any LPS as it will decompose, so you have to grow everything absolutely sterile. Sterile filtering helps against bacteria, but any dying bacterium will leave LPS everywhere.

[Edited on 28-11-2018 by Tsjerk]