WASHINGTON- A group of international researchers has found a monoclonal antibody that protects against Junin virus, which causes Argentinean Hemorrhagic Fever (FHA), as reported in a statement prepared for themselves and edited by Colorado State University (U.S.A.).
The group, consisting of more than twenty scientists from laboratories and universities around the world, has found that the monoclonal antibody J199 (produced by a single type of immune system cell) protects against the virus that causes a viral hemorrhagic fever, endemic in Argentina.
Junin virus is transmitted by a species of rodent, the corn-mouse (drylands vesper mouse) and develops in humans. If not treated in time, Argentinean Hemorrhagic Fever has a mortality rate of 30%.
According to the researchers, the virus is a «top priority bioterrorism threat» as it is a risk that this will extend beyond Argentina, and they note that currently there are no drugs approved by the US authorities to treat it.
Therefore, Larry Zeitlin, a researcher at the University of San Diego (California, USA) and their international colleagues used guinea pigs to test the clinical effectiveness of three monoclonal antibodies.
After being infected with a lethal dose of Junin virus, the animals that were treated with the monoclonal antibody J199 survived the 30 days of the study.
However, animals that were not applied the antibody died within two weeks of being infected.
