Exciting discovery with immediate application for preventing terrorist attacks with the smallpox virus. Mouse experiments have shown that combining this new drug with a single antibody injection cleared the lungs of a smallpox-like virus in just eight days. The drug fights viral diseases by blocking cellular signaling pathways that viruses depend on for reproduction…”We now have a model of an approach that can potentially be used to treat a wide array of acute viral conditions,” according to the study’s director.
Targeting cells carries a higher probability of success since they don’t mutate with the speed and agility that viruses themselves do–and can allow the body’s immune system to do its job more effectively.
Funded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as part of a battle against bioterrorism, it seems that after all, maybe the heavy focus on defense may eventually result in long-term gains for patients at many levels.
Well, none too soon to start countering those new infectious diseases being introduced by those drug-resistant forces we created by overindulging ourselves in antibiotics all these decades…