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12-19-2018 12:28 PM
Read online this morning they have been working on a universal vaccine using llama antibodies. From the article sounds like they may be on to something. It says the vaccine could be a thing of the past as nasal sprays work better.
Llamas may be the key to preventing the flu, a new study says.
A team of researchers at California's Scripps Research Institute successfully treated flu-infected mice using llama antibodies extracted from flu-infected llama blood, according to a paper published this week in the journal Science.
"How well the vaccine works can depend in part on the match between the vaccine virus used to produce the vaccine and the circulating viruses that season," the CDC notes on its website. "It’s not possible to predict what viruses will be most predominant during the upcoming season."
For years, scientists have tried to find a universal vaccine that would cover all strains of the deadly virus.
Now, the team of researchers say they have found success using llama antibodies on mice.
"It's very effective, there were 60 different viruses that were used in the challenge and only one wasn't neutralized and that's a virus that doesn't infect humans," Ian Wilson, a Scripps Institute researcher with the study, told the BBC. "The goal here is to provide something that would work from season to season, and also protect you from possible pandemics should they emerge."
The llama antibodies were effective on the mice because of their tiny size, the scientists said. Mice and human antibodies are much larger than those found in llamas. They believe the smaller llama antibodies are able to infiltrate the cells easier and render the cell ineffective.
The scientists infected the llamas with the flu and chose four of the most potent llama antibodies to create their own synthetically neutralized antibody using elements from each of the four chosen.
That antibody was then tested on mice infected with deadly doses of the disease.
Finding success, the researchers then tried different methods of introducing the antibodies to mice and found that nasal sprays worked best, which means flu injections may also become a thing of the past.
Before that happens, more research is required to be sure the human body does not see the antibodies as foreign invaders and begin attacking them.
Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham who was not involved in the study, told the BBC the treatment, if proven effective, could become "the Holy Grail of influenza.”
12-19-2018 12:53 PM
Sad for the llamas
All the more reason not to get these flu shots!
12-19-2018 01:01 PM - edited 12-19-2018 01:02 PM
Why would the llama care about having blood drawn? We all have had it done ourselves and we are all still here.
Many of our most effective medicines come from nature or animal hormones and now possibly their antibodies.
I don't hear anyone lamenting about the snakes or spiders and anti-venom production.
12-19-2018 01:32 PM - edited 12-19-2018 01:41 PM
That's really cool. So it sounds to me like the universal treatment antibody targeted against multi-strains of the flu virus...sort of a OSFA antibody.
Hopefully this new antibody treatment will be made monoclonally in a lab using genetic synthesis technique.
@LTT1 might find this thread interesting.
12-19-2018 02:48 PM
@Nightowlz@SilleeMee@Laura14@on the bay
Oh thank you so very much for this extremely interesting information!
WOW wouldn't this possibly open the door to safer vaccines!
Dear llamas and their itty bitty antibody molecules!
Our family has lots going on...little DGD had type B flu last week with pneumonia! She was treated with TWO antibiotics at once!
The doctor was very surprised at her positive flu test...the office originally was only treating a more common pneumonia.
I am having weird flu-like symptoms and have not been tested.
Our family's familiarity with genetic techniques originates with a family member who has hemophilia and is treated with a genetically-created medicine (new).
12-19-2018 05:19 PM
Why are people so afraid of vaccines? I do not understand it. Where would a lot of people be if the polio vaccine had never been invented? I guess some people would rather have the illness. Never understood this way of thinking.
12-19-2018 07:07 PM
@Laura14 Well maybe the llamas don't really want to be injected with the flu vaccine.
12-19-2018 07:34 PM
@LTT1 wrote:@Nightowlz@SilleeMee@Laura14@on the bay
Oh thank you so very much for this extremely interesting information!
WOW wouldn't this possibly open the door to safer vaccines!
Dear llamas and their itty bitty antibody molecules!
Our family has lots going on...little DGD had type B flu last week with pneumonia! She was treated with TWO antibiotics at once!
The doctor was very surprised at her positive flu test...the office originally was only treating a more common pneumonia.
I am having weird flu-like symptoms and have not been tested.
Our family's familiarity with genetic techniques originates with a family member who has hemophilia and is treated with a genetically-created medicine (new).
@LTT1Did your DGD have a flu shot this year?
12-19-2018 10:57 PM
Very interesting. It would be wonderful to not get the flu. I've had it a few times and it wasn't fun.
12-19-2018 11:10 PM
@Jinlei wrote:Why are people so afraid of vaccines? I do not understand it. Where would a lot of people be if the polio vaccine had never been invented? I guess some people would rather have the illness. Never understood this way of thinking.
@Jinlei . Why? Because it's not 100% safe for everyone. While rare there are some people who get severe negative side effects. Even the CDC has acknowledged that in rare cases the flu vaccine can cause Guillian Barre syndrome.
My husband has a very rare autoimmune illness. It goes up & down in intensity and I thought in 2012 that he wouldn't live to see 2013. Earlier this month I took him to see one of the top neurologists at Penn who specializes in rare central nervous system illnesses. He told us that he believes that a patient who has the same illness as my husband had his triggered by a flu vaccine.
For most people vaccines will only have minor if any side effects. Of course there is a lot of good that vaccines provide. However when your life is turned upside down and you're seeking answers to recovery & good health you tend to question everything.
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