Benhur Lee, a professor at UCLA has possibly discovered an antiviral that can stop Pandemic HIV, Ebola, flu, and any virus you can think of.That isn't even the best part. Lee believes that viruses will not be able to become resistant to this antiviral.
So why aren't we using this to get rid of all viruses in the world? Well, this has only worked in the labs at UCLA.
Then what is it? It is a compound that inhibits viral entry by disabling the viral envelope. It does not destroy the virus it just stops it from entering our cells, therefore, rendering it harmless. More specifically, the compound binds to the lipids in the viral envelope and to the cell the virus is invading. The virus does not have any repair mechanisms, unlike our cells. Therefore, the virus cannot work its magic, while our cells can easily repair the lipids.
This finding is amazing. Unfortunately, Lee says that this compound is not quite ready for mass production. The researchers at UCLA say that this compound may be more toxic to the human body than they had thought in the beginning of their research. It has not proven to very toxic in their research, but there haven't been any trials of the compound to date.
The compound should be researched more heavily and studied before trials start. However, this is an incredible finding. An antiviral that renders all viruses harmless? Seems legendary, but we have to find out how we can safely use this compound in our favor.
"The breadth of antiviral activity is fascinating but I fear that with the underlying mechanism of membrane disruption, there might be a lot more toxicity than is currently appreciated. Primary cells often are much more sensitive than laboratory-adapted cells," -UCLA researcher.
We will see if this "silver-bullet" lives up to the hype.
Works Cited: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=broad-spectrum-anti-viral
More On Antivirals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiviral_drug
www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/treatment/
-Nathaniel B. Chumley
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