Maryland horseshoe crab plays vital role in ensuring COVID-19 vaccine safety

[turbinetree]

Labs use blood from horseshoe crab to detect toxins in medicine

SALISBURY, Md. —
The Maryland horseshoe crab is playing a vital role in ensuring the coronavirus vaccine is clean and safe to use.

The ancient sea creatures are serving as medicine's warning bell. The alarm isn't in their nine eyes, nor their inky, wiggly 12 legs or even their menacing-looking tail jutting out from a protective helmet.

The horseshoe crab's blue blood is used to detect toxins in the medicine. Their blood is hyper-sensitive to dangerous bacteria and traps it.

"The crab's blood clots around the bacteria, and then there's other chemistry in that, that will kill that invading bacteria. We don't take advantage of that part, we take advantage of the clot," said Allen Burgenson, global subject matter expert for endotoxin detection at Lonza Inc.

Despite all the available science, technology and engineering, the world still depends on nature to make sure medicines are safe to use. The detection process is incredibly simple: Horseshoe crab blood and a sample of the coronavirus vaccine incubate in a test tube for about an hour.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/maryland-horseshoe-crab-covid-19-vaccine-safety/35245276

There are other news items in this post but this is amazing

[Celerity]

1. anti-vaxxers are using this to try and whip up an anti-vax frenzy amongst vegans

[turbinetree]

3. so do they know that nuts have antioxidants

just saying..................then what will they eat...........

[3catwoman3]

2. We learned this about horseshoe crabs...

...a few years ago while visiting an aquarium.

[turbinetree]

4. never knew learn something everyday

[StClone]

5. It is a very Primitive animal-445 million years old, pre-dating even the dinosaurs

With extraordinary characteristics. It also sustain one bird species in particular: The rapidly declining and pretty shorebird the Red Knot

The rufa subspecies of Red Knot's spring migration is timed to coincide with the horseshoe crab's spawning season, as the massive outlay of eggs provides a rich, easily digestible food source for the exhausted birds. Delaware Bay shores provide the single most important spring stopover area for the Red Knot, hosting within a narrow time window up to 90 percent of the North American population. Other key U.S. stopover sites include coastal islands off Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Massachusetts.

https://abcbirds.org/bird/red-knot/