Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

The First Antidote For The Silent Killer Could Save Thousands

University of Maryland researchers developed the first-ever antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning using an engineered protein called RcoM-HBD-CCC that acts like a sponge to rapidly soak up the toxic gas from blood. Carbon monoxide poisoning causes 50,000 emergency room visits and about 1,500 deaths in the US each year, with nearly half of survivors suffering long-term heart and brain damage even after treatment. The new therapy reduces the time it takes to clear half the carbon monoxide from blood to less than a minute, compared to over an hour with pure oxygen therapy and five hours without treatment. Scientists isolated the protein from a bacterium called Paraburkholderia xenovorans, which naturally uses it to sense tiny amounts of carbon monoxide in its environment.

The engineered version is highly selective, grabbing carbon monoxide without interfering with oxygen or nitric oxide, which helps regulate blood pressure. Tests on mice showed the therapy worked quickly to remove carbon monoxide from red blood cells and was safely flushed out through urine. Lead researcher Mark Gladwin says this could become a rapid intravenous antidote given in emergency rooms or even in the field by first responders, potentially saving thousands of lives. The breakthrough could also lead to new treatments for hemorrhagic shock, severe anemia, and organ preservation for transplants, turning a discovery about bacteria into hope for countless patients facing the silent killer.

PrevPreviousThis Nation Sets A New Standard For The Amazon
NextThis Dam Removal Could Save Endangered SpeciesNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

What This Great-Grandmother Did At 90 Proves It’s Never Too Late

October 23, 2025

Maryette McFarland from Londonderry became the oldest of more than 300 graduates at the Open University’s ceremony in Belfast on Tuesday, finally earning her English Literature degree at age 90 after a 70-year journey that began in Dublin back in the 1960s. The great-grandmother had originally started her studies at

Read More
Happy News

This MUSHROOM-Powered Toilet Changes Everything

October 23, 2025

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have created a mushroom-powered waterless toilet that turns human waste into compost using mycelia, the root network of mushrooms, in what users are calling a beautiful experience comparable to a Scandinavian sauna. The MycoToilet, housed in a small cedar-sided building dropped among the

Read More
Happy News

The Wedding Photographer Turned Landmine Remover

October 23, 2025

Mofida Majzoub was a freelance wedding photographer in Lebanon when she saw an advertisement for female de-miners and made a career change that everyone in her life thought was absolutely crazy, joining the Mines Advisory Group that has now received the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize worth $3 million.

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 HappyNews.