Health Discoveries in General Health News
Clinical trial focuses on drug to treat West Nile virus
August 19, 2010
A new drug is being tested in a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial to determine its effectiveness in treating people with West Nile fever and central nervous system infections caused by the virus.
The drug MGAWN1 is a monoclonal antibody engineered to latch onto the virus so the body's immune system will recognize and eliminate it. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center who are conducting the trial are hoping the drug will be able to reduce the severity of the virus and shorten the length of the disease.
"Currently, there are no approved treatments for people with severe West Nile virus infection and there is no standard of care that is highly effective against it," said Dr. Russell Bartt, a neurologist and lead investigator of the study at Rush. "This new drug therapy has the potential of neutralizing the virus and could possibly reduce or prevent complications associated with the West Nile neuroinvasive disease."
Since 1999, there have been more than 29,000 cases of confirmed West Nile virus infection in the U.S. It is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Within the North Shore-LIJ Health System, the laboratory of neuroimmunology researches the contributions of inflammation in diseases or injuries that affect the nervous system.
The drug MGAWN1 is a monoclonal antibody engineered to latch onto the virus so the body's immune system will recognize and eliminate it. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center who are conducting the trial are hoping the drug will be able to reduce the severity of the virus and shorten the length of the disease.
"Currently, there are no approved treatments for people with severe West Nile virus infection and there is no standard of care that is highly effective against it," said Dr. Russell Bartt, a neurologist and lead investigator of the study at Rush. "This new drug therapy has the potential of neutralizing the virus and could possibly reduce or prevent complications associated with the West Nile neuroinvasive disease."
Since 1999, there have been more than 29,000 cases of confirmed West Nile virus infection in the U.S. It is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Within the North Shore-LIJ Health System, the laboratory of neuroimmunology researches the contributions of inflammation in diseases or injuries that affect the nervous system.