Without a cure, the West Nile Virus, transmitted and spread by mosquitoes, has killed thousands of people around the world. But now, thanks to Israeli microbiologists, there is a vaccine. According to a report on the Israel21c.org website, it has already proven effective in lab mice and has been employed in the recovery of an infected woman at Laniado Hospital in Netanya, as well as improvements in two other hospitalized victims. In Israel, several hundred people have been infected by the virus, and dozens died. In the U.S., West Nile Virus has infected 4,156 people, killing 282.
The researchers behind the vaccine are Professor Bracha Rager-Zisman, a former chief scientist of the Health Ministry and a veteran researcher at Ben-Gurion University, and Dr. David Ben-Nathan of the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona. The vaccine they developed is effective for six weeks, and is based on a protein group found in the blood taken from donors with active antibodies against the virus.
Dubbed Omr-IgG-am by its Israeli commercial manufacturer, OMRIX Biopharmaceuticals, the vaccine is beginning clinical trials at a number of American hospitals, under supervision of the US National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Israeli vaccine was reported on in The Journal of Infectious Diseases in June this year. Financial support for the study came from the Center for the Study of Emerging Diseases (Israel).
According Israel21c, quoting the Jerusalem Post, Professor Rager-Zisman added that approval of the vaccine is likely to be swift, not only because immunoglobulins are well known and used for other diseases, but also because the virus is spreading rapidly around the world.
The researchers behind the vaccine are Professor Bracha Rager-Zisman, a former chief scientist of the Health Ministry and a veteran researcher at Ben-Gurion University, and Dr. David Ben-Nathan of the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona. The vaccine they developed is effective for six weeks, and is based on a protein group found in the blood taken from donors with active antibodies against the virus.
Dubbed Omr-IgG-am by its Israeli commercial manufacturer, OMRIX Biopharmaceuticals, the vaccine is beginning clinical trials at a number of American hospitals, under supervision of the US National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Israeli vaccine was reported on in The Journal of Infectious Diseases in June this year. Financial support for the study came from the Center for the Study of Emerging Diseases (Israel).
According Israel21c, quoting the Jerusalem Post, Professor Rager-Zisman added that approval of the vaccine is likely to be swift, not only because immunoglobulins are well known and used for other diseases, but also because the virus is spreading rapidly around the world.