A NEW APPROACH TO AVIAN INFLUENZA : EXPERIMENTAL DRUG GIVEN TO COMBAT LUNG INJURY IN SEVERE CASES TRIED IN H7N9 EPIDEMIC

 

A novel therapy has been tested in the treatment of severe cases of influenza and it seems to be giving positive results.

In lab mice, with severe lung complications, often seen in humans with the more severe cases of infection, a new medication called Eritoran seems to protect the animals from death even after being injected with lethal doses of the influenza virus. 

Most deaths in influenza occur because of the lung damage and injury that is the hallmark of a dangerous influenza strain.  The potential of a single therapy of the drug then is very relevant, especially since it has already been tested in humans and has been proven safe.  

Now that scientists are grappling with dual strains of avian influenza, the old and the new H7N9, the finding could be a game changer.  

Eritoran, a synthetic inhibitor of TLR4, a toll-like receptor protein that mediates an immune reaction that often proves fatal in humans, was developed to combat sepsis originally.  Now researchers have shown that administration of a six day course of the drug can stop patients from dying in the case of acute respiratory symptoms in people infected with Influenza.  

Since one of the most worrisome characteristics of novel and mutating viruses is the enhanced ability to infect the lung tissue and in some cases to infect tissue deep in the lung, the medication could prove an invaluable tool in those cases that show early severe symptoms and buys additional time in the treatment of otherwise fatal cases. 

Source : MNT 5.6.13