14 DAY TRIAL // A paper published in the December 2 issue of the open-access scientific journal PLoS ONE indicates that blood clots play an important role in keeping our bodies safe from the nefarious actions of microorganisms and toxins. The new study reveals how clots absorb chemicals that would otherwise make us very sick.
Investigators with the University of California in Davis (UCD) say that this function of blood clots has remained a mystery to science until now. Animals, including humans, have a very limited array of options when it comes to protecting against infecting microorganisms, Science Blog reports.
Several bacteria can kill their hosts by releasing minute amounts of toxins into their bloodstreams. What the UCD team found was that clots are able to absorb a significant amount of such toxins, so that the quantities that do make their way into our bodies are not so dangerous.
The finding is very relevant because septic shock caused by bacteria kills in excess of 300,000 people every year in the United States alone. Worldwide, these figures may be significantly higher, with numerous cases going unreported in poorer areas of the Third World.