Washington (VNA) - An international team of scientists have used antibodies derived from immune cells from recent human survivors of H5N1 avian influenza to successfully treat H5N1-infected mice and perhaps lay the building blocks for a potential cure for the virus.
“The possibility of an influenza pandemic, whether sparked by H5N1 or another influenza virus to which humans have no natural immunity, is of serious concern to the global health community,” said Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US.
“If the success of this initial study is confirmed through further laboratory and clinical trials, human antibodies could prove to be valuable therapeutic and public health interventions for pandemic influenza,” the director added.
The research represented a three-way collaboration among researchers at NIAID, the Institute for Research in Switzerland, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, and the Ho Chi Minh City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The authors are already planning to further develop the research.-Enditem
