Researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine will begin work on a five-year project that could reduce the chances of E. coli bacteria in swine and humans. The research is thanks in part to a $720,000 grant awarded to Iowa State by the National Institutes of Health.

Professor of veterinary pathology Harley Moon will lead the research of E. coli disease in swine to better understand similar diseases which occur in humans. His team includes researchers from ISU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service’s National Animal Disease Center and Texas A&M University.

“They all bring different skills and abilities to the group,” Moon said.

Moon has been with ISU since the first of March and is a former director of the National Animal Disease Center in Ames and the Plum Island research center in New York. He is also a member of the National Academy of Science.

Moon, the principal investigator of the team, said the ultimate goal of the group is to develop a model for the human disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

“We hope to learn not only about the animal disease, but also the human counterpart,” Moon said.

He said the family that causes the disease in both swine and humans is the same, but differs in that the agent is species-specific.

Richard Ross, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, was highly involved in the recruitment of Moon to ISU. “It is wonderful this happened so quickly,” Ross said.

“Harley Moon has done remarkable work to identify the role of E. coli in the diarrhea of cows and pigs.”

Ross said Moon is uniquely able to address the issue being researched due to his extensive research involving edema disease.

Moon began researching edema disease five years ago and found out how difficult it is to create the disease under controlled circumstances.

The diseases are both caused by an E. coli bacteria, but the bacteria that causes the disease in swine cannot cause the same disease in humans, which is an advantage to the group of researchers in the area of safety and convenience.

“The advantage of the pig model is that it is not a human pathogen. It is specifically pig,” Moon said.

He said that in humans, the disease is mostly prevalent in the elderly and young children, causing a devastating kidney disease.

In swine, the edema toxin causes damage to the lining of the blood vessels which causes them to become leaky.

There is then an accumulation of fluid in the tissue, and it eventually becomes fatal when the fluid builds up in the brain and causes pressure.

“The reason the project was funded is because it is similar to the HUS disease found in children which comes as a complication of E. coli infection in people,” Ross said.

“It is basically a food-born infection.” Ross recalled the incident that happened at the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant where several children died due to food poisoning which was caused by E. coli bacteria.

“This particular strain does not cause cattle to become ill, which is why we are using a model in pigs to understand,” Ross said.

Currently, a vaccine exists for the swine disease in laboratory form only. “It would then be logical to think that humans can also be vaccinated,” Moon said.

Moon said the group would much rather find a treatment for both humans and swine rather than the vaccination, because there is too small of a market right now for a vaccine in the swine industry.

The researchers hope to find a regular and predictable sequence of the progression of the disease along with a specific time period of toxin production. They will then use the pig model to understand the development of the disease in humans.

“This will ultimately lead to a better way to control and treat the problem in children,” Ross said.

There are many aspects that will be beneficial in the project, but Ross said the major benefits are the results of finding better ways to treat and prevent HUS in children and swine.

“This project also helps to attract new, young faculty and students,” Ross said.

“Moon is such an exciting, highly energized scientist,” Ross said. “We are looking forward to his leadership in other projects and also strengthening the research program.”