Symptoms of an acute poisoning are often obvious and easy to detect, whereas the slow onset of a chronic poisoning may cause diagnostic difficulties. This project will only focus on acute poisoning and its management. .
Per annum in the UK there are:.
• some 300,000 cases of poisoning .
• 100,000 hospital admissions for poisoning (in-patient mortality <1 %) .
• 3,500-4000 deaths from poisoning (1000 of these are due to CO).
• 2000 deaths from acute poisoning.
Antibodies in treatment .
Antibodies have the ability to recognize specific antigens (foreign invading compounds) and play three important roles in the defence system of the body. These roles include opsonization, activating the complement system, and neutralizing toxins (such as snake and scorpion venom) and toxic organisms (such as bacteria and viruses). Antibodies normally travel inside white blood cells called the B-cells. These B-cells are also a very important part of our immune system. An antibody consists of two different regions, Fab (the variable region) and Fc (the constant region). The Fab region binds to the antigen. The Fab region can be obtained using the enzyme papain, which cleaves the disulphide bond between Fab and Fc region. Using the Fab region on its own has an advantage, as the Fab-antigen complex is small enough to be filtered by the renal glomerulus and excreted in the urine, unlike the whole antibody-drug complex. Antibodies cannot not seen by the naked eye. .
The three vital steps of antibodies:.
1) Opsonization.
Opsonization is the process by which bacteria are altered in such a manner that they are more readily and more efficiently engulfed by phagocytes. This occurs when the antibodies tag bacteria, viruses and infected cells. After tagging the foreign compound the antibody emits a signal, for the phagocytes present in the body to come and eat the antigen. .
2) Activating the complement system.
