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For the past two decades Professor Nigel
Dimmock and his team have been working on a new approach
to combating influenza. They’ve been working on what is known
as an interfering, or as they prefer to call it,
protecting virus; a natural anti-viral produced by the
virus itself.
The existence of such an anti virus has been known about for
some time but Professor Dimmock and the team at Warwick are the
first to harness this as a practical anti-viral proposition which
can actually be used to protect people from the disease. The
researchers have been able to show that the protecting virus can
help to shield animals against various strains of flu and could
offer protection against the full range of influenza A infections,
including H5N1 and any new pandemic or epidemic strain infecting
humans.
Early tests show that the ‘Protecting virus’ is also
able to counter an actual influenza A infection and offer
protection, if given up to 24 hours after first infection - making
it even more effective in combating major epidemics.
Having completed laboratory experiments they’re now in a
position to move towards human trials and prove the protecting
virus to be as effective in people as it is in the laboratory!
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