Blood of Survivors May Beat Bird Flu

May 30, 04:24 AM

Current Headlines: SCIENTISTS may have found a way to combat the most dangerous strain of bird flu.

Researchers found the blood from survivors of the H5N1 strain stopped the full-blown disease from developing in mice.

The H5N1 virus has killed millions of birds and has occasionally been passed on to humans, killing 185.

But the scientists, based in Vietnam, Switzerland and the U.S., are optimistic that antibodies from Vietnamese survivors could be used to fight infection.

They focused on blood from the victims and found some proteins provided significant immunity to mice that were subsequently infected with H5N1.

They cut the amount of the virus found in the lungs and almost completely prevented it reaching the brain or spleen.

Dr Cameron Simmons, of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam, said he was 'optimistic' the technique could be used on humans.

He claimed the treatment still worked 72 hours after infection.

'This is particularly important as people who have become infected do not tend to report to their local healthcare facilities until several days after the onset of illness,' Dr Simmons added.

The antibodies were found in the lab of Professor Antonio Lanzavecchia at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Switzerland.

Professor Lanzavecchia said the findings, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, were encouraging but it is not certain they would be useful in a possible bird flu pandemic.

Children at a primary school are being given antiviral drugs after a pupil became ill with possible bird flu.

The nine-year-old girl's condition is believed to be linked to an outbreak of the less deadly H7N2 strain on a farm in North Wales.

The girl has been treated and is thought to be recovering at home.

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