From Our Partners
Monday, July 4, 2022
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Medical Countermeasures

Researchers Closer to Countering Deadly Nipah Virus

by Global Biodefense Staff
June 26, 2014
Researchers Closer to Countering Deadly Nipah Virus

Transmission electron micrograph depict Nipah virus virions that had been isolated from a patient's cerebrospinal fluid.

Transmission electron micrograph depict Nipah virus virions that had been isolated from a patient’s cerebrospinal fluid.

An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and three groups within the National Institutes of Health reports a new breakthrough in countering the deadly Nipah virus.

The human monoclonal antibody known as m102.4 is the first effective antiviral treatment for Nipah that has the potential for human therapeutic applications.

Nipah and the closely related Hendra virus are highly infectious agents that emerged from Pteropid fruit bats in the 1990s, causing serious disease outbreaks in a variety of domestic animals and humans in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. Recent Nipah outbreaks have resulted in acute respiratory distress syndrome and encephalitis, person-to-person transmission and greater than 90 percent fatality rates among people. These properties make both Nipah and Hendra viruses a concern to human and livestock health.

Previous studies conducted by these researchers have found that the patented m102.4 antibody therapy could protect nonhuman primates from a deadly Hendra infection. In a paper appearing in Science Translational Medicine on June 25, the group describes the human monoclonal antibody therapy that protected nonhuman primates from disease at several time points after Nipah exposure, including the onset of clinical illness in this lethal disease.

“What makes this study unique is that we have achieved complete protection against death even in animals that received treatment five days after being infected with the Nipah virus when they otherwise would have succumbed within 8-10 days of infection,” according to UTMB professor Thomas Geisbert, first author of the paper. “This recent success of the antibody therapy against Nipah virus disease in a nonhuman primate is a key step towards its development as a therapeutic for use in people.”

Christopher Broder, USU professor and Geisbert’s fellow senior author, stated that because of the new data and previous work with this antibody with Hendra virus experiments, “there was sufficient interest for the Queensland government in Australia to initiate a phase I clinical safety trial with m102.4 that is set to commence later this year.”

Read at Science Translational Medicine:  Therapeutic Treatment of Nipah Virus Infection in Nonhuman Primates with a Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibody.

Source: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

From Our Partners
Tags: AntiviralsNipah

Related Posts

UK Health Security Agency Widens Monkeypox Vaccine Umbrella for Outbreak Control
Medical Countermeasures

UK Health Security Agency Widens Monkeypox Vaccine Umbrella for Outbreak Control

June 21, 2022
Biodefense Industry News
Industry News

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Opens Advanced Development Center for Vaccine Programs

June 20, 2022
Chronic Wasting Disease: The Fatal Prion Infection Killing Elk and Deer in North America
Infectious Diseases

Chronic Wasting Disease: The Fatal Prion Infection Killing Elk and Deer in North America

June 10, 2022
Monkeypox Cases Prompt Additional Contracts for Bavarian Nordic Vaccine
Medical Countermeasures

Monkeypox Cases Prompt Additional Contracts for Bavarian Nordic Vaccine

May 30, 2022
Load More

Latest News

Poliovirus Detected in London Sewage: Response Measures Emphasize Wastewater Surveillance and Vaccination Gaps

Poliovirus Detected in London Sewage: Response Measures Emphasize Wastewater Surveillance and Vaccination Gaps

June 22, 2022
Monkeypox Diagnostics: CDC Authorizes Five Commercial Lab Companies

Monkeypox Diagnostics: CDC Authorizes Five Commercial Lab Companies

June 22, 2022
UK Health Security Agency Widens Monkeypox Vaccine Umbrella for Outbreak Control

UK Health Security Agency Widens Monkeypox Vaccine Umbrella for Outbreak Control

June 21, 2022
Influenza Research

New Way to Identify Influenza A Virus Lights Up When Specific Virus Targets are Present

June 20, 2022

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC