Development of an unprecedented diagnosis kit for the harmfulness of the accident caused by bees (Apis mellifera)

• Grant number: 22/02869-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Eloisa Fornaro Clemente
• Grantee: Eloisa Fornaro Clemente
• Company: Paulo Daniel Leite Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento
• CNAE: Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais ; Atividades de atendimento hospitalar ; Atividades de serviços de complementação diagnóstica e terapêutica
• City: Botucatu
• Associated researchers: Bruna Cavecci Mendonça ; João Pessoa Araújo Junior ; Lucilene Delazari dos Santos ; Ricardo de Oliveira Orsi ; Valber de Albuquerque Pedrosa
• Associated research grant: 20/09819-6 - Innovation in bee accidents: from the proof of concept to the development of a diagnostic kit of the accident's damage, AP.PIPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/13569-6 - Development of an unprecedented diagnosis kit for the harmfulness of the accident caused by bees (Apis mellifera), BP.PIPE; 23/00804-4 - Production of polyclonal antibodies against Apis mellifera venom toxins in rabbits and prototype assembly of a diagnostic kit using them, BP.TT; 22/13458-4 - Development of an unprecedented diagnosis kit for the harmfulness of the accident caused by bees (Apis mellifera), BP.PIPE

Abstract

In recent decades, the expansion of Africanized bees (Apis mellifera) in Brazil and throughout America has led public health authorities to include the bee-eating accident as an object of health surveillance. Since the advent of hybridization and the emergence of Africanized bees in Brazilian territory in 1957, reports of severe accidents by bees have been recorded throughout the American continent. In addition to allergic processes, which range from mild to severe, multiple stings are generally associated with severe poisoning. The growing number of clinical cases and, consequently, deaths has raised the need for an effective treatment and diagnostic alternatives. The treatment currently used is based on reducing symptoms with antihistamines, adrenaline and glucocorticoids; on the other hand, there is an antivenom in the clinical test phase, the antiapilic serum, produced by researchers from the Center for the Study of Poisons and Venomous Animals (CEVAP/UNESP) and the Instituto Vital Brazil (IVB). However, there is still a challenge to be addressed in the context of diagnosing the injury caused by multiple bee stings: what is the amount of venom circulating in the victim's body? How serious is the accident? How to monitor the metabolization and reduction of the poison present in the victim's body? Currently, the procedure of counting the stingers present in the victim's body, together with the observations of the clinical and biochemical manifestations of the poisoning by the medical team, are the only sources of information to assess the degree of poisoning. However, in addition to this process being time consuming, it is known that the amount of venom injected by each bee can be different and some stings can be "empty" - without the introduction of venom. In addition, clinical and biochemical parameters are not sufficient to predict the patient's evolution. Faced with this challenge, this research and development proposal PIPE FAPESP PHASE II consists of continuing the elaboration of an unprecedented diagnostic kit that classifies the severity of the accident in order to assist medical management, thus avoiding inadequate treatment, reduction of time of hospitalization/occupancy of ICU and Infirmary beds and, consequently, reduction of possible sequelae and deaths. At the end of this proposal, it is expected that the results obtained will provide technical-scientific data regarding the sensitivity and specificity thresholds of the proposed kit and promote the development of an effective and efficient device to indicate the amount of venom present in the organism of the bumpy. This diagnostic device is unprecedented in the world market, low cost and easy to use by analysts of clinical laboratories that support healthcare facilities and low cost. Considering that the technology that will be developed can be transferred internationally, this proposal has a positive financial impact on the data of bee accidents notifications in the American continent annually. (AU)