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In Vietnam, an experiment has been conducted to use blood cells from two survived avian-flu patients to cure people of the infection. The keyword is to cure, instead of only reducing its severity. Antibodies made from the patients’ blood cells grown in the lab have cured mice infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus, suggesting they might make an effective treatment or preventive therapy for humans.

The antibodies worked well when administered three days after the mice were infected, with all 20 mice in the treatment groups surviving, compared with none out of five in the control group. The antibodies also worked as a preventive therapy when given before the mice were infected.

The researchers, from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Min City, isolated four blood-cell lines that produced antibodies effective against bird flu from Vietnam - three of these also worked against samples taken from Indonesia, home to the other main strain of H5N1 virus found in Asia.

At the moment, antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu are the best treatment and prevention against bird flu. But, although these drugs improve survival rates, they do not guarantee a cure, and there have already been a few cases of virus resistant to Tamiflu. The new antibody treatment could be used together with those antivirals.

Compared with drugs, however, antibodies could be costlier and harder to mass produce in the face of a pandemic. They might be of most use in treating the few people who catch the disease directly from birds, and for localised outbreaks. This could help prevent wider outbreaks. Another drawback is that the antibodies may not be effective if the virus mutates.

Topik: Antibody, Avian Flu