Blood brings life

Today, there is a global industry exploiting blood for health. But the amount of sams globally is declining sharply.

>>> Prehistoric tanks crawling under the sea?

Industry $ 50 million / year

According to CNN, the scientists found that the green blood of the sam (called the horseshoe crab) has the effect of neutralizing harmful bacteria.

This ancient creature lived in shallow waters, where many bacteria grew. Sam has no immune system, but has a special defense mechanism to fight bacteria. When faced with toxic bacteria, amoeba cells in sam blood detect and paralyze them, not allowing them to spread.

Exploiting sam blood in the US laboratory - (Photo: CNN)

This natural defense method is currently being exploited on an industrial scale. The blood-mining industry is currently worth $ 50 million / year. One gallon (3.7 liters) of blood will cost up to $ 60,000. It is estimated that each year the industry catches 600,000 sams to exploit blood.

But this industry is not slaughtered. For each pig, only 30% of the blood is collected. Within 72 hours, they will be brought back to the sea and a week later their blood will recover. Even so, the death rate dies during blood extraction up to 10-30%.

Blood saves thousands of patients every day

Blood is delivered to a number of specialized facilities in the US and Asia. Since the 1970s, the health industry has used blood to check injections, vaccines or medical devices to determine if they are infected with dangerous gram-negative bacteria .

Only 45 minutes of exposure to LAL in blood is sufficient to detect endotoxins from gram-negative bacteria that are difficult to observe. LAL is so sensitive that it can isolate threats as small as a grain of sand in a large swimming pool. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) always requires injections and medical devices that come into contact with the patient's body to be checked by blood.

Therefore, sam blood works to save thousands of patients every day. Dr. John Dubczak of Charles River Laboratory (USA) said that the technology to detect toxins by blood is becoming more sensitive and accurate.

The Charles River Laboratory is developing toxin testing devices that can be used outside the laboratory, even in space such as the International Space Station (ISS).

"We can use it to determine if any of the bacteria exist on the ISS surface," said Norman Wainwright, director of research and development at Charles River Laboratory.

This system can also help carry out the necessary biological research to expand human presence in space, from the health of crews, to the study of the spacecraft environment to research and finding. living in the solar system.

Con sam - (Artwork: Internet)

Japanese scientists have also recently conducted a test to detect fungal infections and research to develop anti-viral and anti-cancer therapies based on the isolation and neutralization of toxins of blood. Scientists are also studying similar mechanisms to avoid reliance on blood.

One of them is to use electronic chips to alert when exposed to toxic substances. Another system developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison uses liquid crystals with similar detection and warning functions. However, Dr. Peter Armstrong of the University of California said, there is no mechanism that can achieve the same level of accuracy and sensitivity as LAL in blood.

Sam mining alarm

The problem is that global quantities are falling. The world's largest source is located in the Delaware Bay in the United States, but has severely declined 75-90% in the last 15 years. In addition to the number of sams that died during the process of blood extraction, the sams survived trauma, losing their mating ability, leading to a decrease in the number of sams.

Health expert Christopher Chabot of Plymouth State University said the blood-mining industry must increase safety, for example reducing the time it takes to leave the sea, ensuring the right temperature and environment when transporting them to Reduce the number of sam dies.

However, due to a sharp decline in the number of samplers, the scientific community must find an effective alternative mechanism in the future.

'It is unclear when it will become extinct, but by that time the world health industry will face a dark period,' warned Chabot.