Yorkshire scientists pioneer way to save sight of people worldwide

A PIONEERING research project involving academics at a Yorkshire university will help thousands of people around the world who are at risk of losing their sight in a global “silent epidemic” of eye infections.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have teamed up with colleagues in India on a £1.4m project to come up with alternatives to antibiotic drugs which microbes that cause infections are increasingly resistant to.

The project, launched in partnership with the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, will develop a treatment which smooths out velcro-like ‘hooks’ on human cells which bacteria latch on to, allowing them to infect them. It follows previous research at Sheffield which used the same method to prevent bacteria which cause skin infections taking hold on the body.

Professor Pete Monk, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, is leading the new research after grants were secured from the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Prof Monk said: “We found that with skin infections the bacteria have to hold on very tightly because the body is trying to get rid of them. Most antibiotics drugs target the bacteria themselves. The bacteria that survive have some form of resistance, then that spreads. Instead of the bacteria, our treatment goes for the human cells.”

A lack of access to medical treatment and rising antibiotic resistance means hundreds of thousands of people in India are affected by a sight loss epidemic.

Prof Monk added: “There is a huge problem with people who work in fields getting infections. It’s rare in the UK but in India and south-east Asia people live a long way from hospitals and they can’t get a diagnosis. Infections are often treated incorrectly, if at all. This increases sight loss frequently in men and women in their working years.

“This silent epidemic affects 840,000 people a year in India. We have identified a way of preventing infections from establishing a foothold on the surface of the eye. The treatment can be applied safely without needing time-consuming and expensive identification of the bacteria, allowing it to be used as early as possible in remote rural

The previous study into skin conditions was funded by the Humane Research Trust, a charity which supports medical research without animal testing. Clinical trials and discussions with drug companies are planned to develop treatments which could help diabetics with skin conditions and elderly people in hospital suffering from pressure sores.

Prof Monk said: “We’ve done all the laboratory work and we are hoping to go into further development.” locations.”