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Friday, September 12, 2003A study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is now enrolling patients already infected with West Nile to see if intravenous infusions of antibodies, substances produced by the immune system to fight infection, will prevent death or brain damage. The clinical trial will enroll about 100 patients who are hospitalized and have West Nile encephalitis or are at risk of developing it. The antibodies were taken from the blood of Israeli blood donors, says microbiologist Bracha Rager. ... Because West Nile is common in Israel, she says, most adults there have developed antibodies to it that protect them. Based on this research, Omrix, an Israeli company, developed the treatment that will be used in the study. The other tries to block viral replication: In another study, scientists at AVI Biopharma of Portland, Ore., expect to begin treating patients this week with a drug based on a technology called "antisense," which reproduces pieces of the DNA of the virus or gene the drug is trying to attack. When given to a patient, the drug binds to the part of the DNA it mirrors, making it impossible for the West Nile virus to replicate. Meanwhile, in other viral news, Bill Gates is putting his money behind the search for a cure of another mosquito-borne infection that's a much more serious threat worldwide: The Seattle philanthropy is contributing $55 million to a consortium called the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative that includes research institutions, public health organizations and industrial firms. The Gates grant will be managed by the International Vaccine Institute, a Seoul-based organization that specializes in Third World vaccine development. Dengue, and its more serious manifestation known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, is spread like West Nile by certain species of mosquitoes. Tens of millions of people, mostly in tropical regions, come down with dengue fever every year and thousands die from it. And some people think the smallpox vaccine will protect against HIV. The evidence is shaky: To test the theory, Alibek and Weinstein studied blood samples from 10 people who received the smallpox vaccination and 10 who did not. When the HIV virus was introduced to the blood samples of those who had been vaccinated, the virus either failed to grow or had its growth slowed considerably. The study results were statistically significant despite the small sample size, Alibek said. Bet that if it pans out, suddenly there won't be so many objections to its safety, or to offering it to young people. posted by Sydney on 9/12/2003 08:34:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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