Immune systems are designed to keep the body healthy and fight disease. But what happens when they go into overdrive and attack the very tissues they are supposed to protect? This serious condition is called sepsis– and it affects at least 1.7 million adults in the United States each year, killing nearly 270,000 of them.
Regardless, sepsis experimenters prefer cruel and unreliable tests on other animals over modern research methods. The more you learn about this potentially fatal disease, the more you will want to promote PETA. Research Modernization Deal, which outlines a plan to replace animal testing with methods applicable to humans.
So here are the facts about sepsis – what it is, why sepsis experiments on other animals are useless, how PETA’s progressive plan is advancing sepsis research, and more.
What is sepsis?
Sepsis, the body’s extreme reaction to infection, develops when chemicals released by the body to fight infection instead cause inflammation throughout the body.
How does sepsis affect the body?
Sepsis, which accounts for one third to one half of all hospital deaths, is due in part to its rapidity. If it is not identified and addressed as soon as possible, it can lead to septic shock – a significant drop in blood pressure that causes heart failure, organ failure, strokes and death.
What treatments are available for sepsis?
Despite decades of experimentation on sepsis and dozens of clinical trials, there are no specific treatments for sepsis or even new effective technologies to diagnose it. This is alarming given that early diagnosis of sepsis is critical (sometimes even the difference between life and death). Modern methods of treating patients with sepsis are aimed at combating the underlying infection, but due to the difficulty of detecting sepsis in the first place, these methods often do not work.
Unsurprisingly, there has been little success in sepsis research, with many laboratories still using the same failed methods – experiments on other animals that are poor models for studying human disease – rather than prioritizing modern research.
Why do experimenters use mice in sepsis experiments?
Mice are animals that are most commonly used in sepsis experiments, although their biology and physiology are very different from those of humans. Experimenters use and kill mice in these tests simply for convenience reasons – animals are cheap, numerous, and small.
Are mice reliable models for studying sepsis in humans?
Not. All therapies for sepsis developed using mice have failed in human trials because the results obtained in mice are not transferable to humans.
In a landmark 2013 study, 39 researchers from Stanford University, Harvard University and other respected organizations found that when it comes to serious inflammatory conditions like sepsis, burns, and trauma, the findings from mice can never be applied to humans from – for their vastly different genetic responses.
Even Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), acknowledged that time and resources were wasted experimenting with sepsis in mice. He called the disaster in which 150 drugs successfully cured sepsis in mice but failed in human trials, “heartbreaking waste of decades of research and billions of dollars… “
What causes sepsis experiments in mice?
In US laboratories, animal experimenters use brutal and invasive methods to induce sepsis in mice. They are pierce the intestines of animals To allow feces and bacteria to seep into their stomachs, insert stents into the animals’ colon so that fecal matter continuously seeps into their bodies, and push the thick stomach tubes down the animal’s throat and pump harmful bacteria into their stomachs. In a test resembling Centipede manthe experimenters sew the mice together along their body length, inject toxins into them, and inject the feces of one mouse into the abdominal cavity of another.
< sp an data-ccp-props="{"134233117":true,"134233118":true,"201341983":0,"335559740":240}"> The infection then destroys their small, fragile bodies, causing debilitating abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and multiple organ failure. Eventually they become so ill that they cannot move.
What are the alternatives to using mice and other animals in sepsis experiments?
Human-relevant research methods, such as human cells and computer simulations, can help scientists study how sepsis progresses, how it affects people at greater risk in different ways, and more – and these methods have been endorsed by experts. A 2015 study by veterinarians, livestock specialists and scientists showed that human genomic information could “replace the need for mouse models in disease discovery and drug development.”
PETA has been relentlessly pushing the scientific community to use these methods. Our actions included organizing attractive demonstrationsreleasing shocking eyewitness investigation which led to the termination of funding Rajesh Anejacruel experiments on mice, collecting hundreds of thousands of letters from supporters, and presents a case against the use of animals in sepsis experiments at an international scientific conference. Finally in 2019 NIH announced his intention to prioritize animal-free research. This is just the beginning.
Be that as it may, other animals do not belong to laboratories
Mice are sensitive and intelligent, they take care of their families and peers. Maiming, poisoning and killing them in laboratories is wrong, not only because these experiments are useless, but also because mice Feel…
Help people trapped in labs by pushing for a PETA research modernization deal:
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