123Pune.com

PUNE, MAY 23: Just like dialysis purifies the blood of patients whose kidneys have failed, here’s a therapeutic device — the hemopurifier — that can remove live dengue virus from fluids.

Researchers at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have found that the device, developed by a private firm, can remove 99.6 per cent of live dengue virus from fluids within half-an-hour.

The development is significant as there is no antiviral drug or vaccine therapy to treat dengue at present. The global prevalence of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) — the more severe and often fatal form of the disease — has increased dramatically in recent decades.

“Basically, this device acts as a purifier and removes the virus from the blood. In laboratory situation, we had excellent results and can now test on humans,” said Dr A C Mishra, NIV director.

The hemopurifier, developed by Aethlon Medical Inc., is designed to mimic the natural immune response of getting rid of viruses and related toxins before the occurrence of cell and organ infection.

During the NIV study, researchers utilised a diagnostic procedure that measured plaque-forming units (PFU) to determine the ability of the hemopurifier to capture only the live infectious forms of dengue virus.

When researchers circulated 5 ml of cultured dengue virus solution with a concentration of 28 billion virus copies per ml of both live infectious and non-infectious virus through a small scale hemopurifier, live virus was captured at a significantly greater rate than non-infectious virus. The hemopurifier removed 99.6 per cent of the live virus from culture fluids in 30 minutes.

Last year, 21 states in India had reported dengue cases. Approximately 11,000 cases and over 170 deaths were reported from across the country. Thirty-one per cent of the cases were reported from Delhi .

Source:IndianExpress