Date: 15.8.2011
Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza, the common cold, and deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.
Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection.
In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them - including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.
Source:
Gate2Biotech - Biotechnology Portal - All Czech Biotechnology information in one place.
ISSN 1802-2685
This website is maintained by: CREOS CZ
© 2006 - 2024 South Bohemian Agency for Support to Innovative Enterprising (JAIP)
Interesting biotechnology content:
Plant biotechnology - Information about plant biotechnology
Science Daily - Science Magazine
A single dose of urea-powered nanorobots reduces bladder tumors by 90% in mouse study
Deadly bacteria show thirst for human blood: Research outlines the phenomenon of bacterial vampirism