Cod Enzyme Kills Bird Flu

Jon Golden writes "An Icelandic cod enzyme might be the cure for bird flu. A recent experiment, which the Icelandic company Ensímtaekni hf. took part in, indicates that in five minutes, the isolated fish enzyme killed 99 percent of H5N1 viruses. The killer enzyme, called penzim, was extracted from the intestines of cod by Ensímtaekni and is currently being developed for beauty products and various types of medicine. The experiment on the H5N1 virus was conducted in London. CEO of Ensímtaekni and biochemist Jón Bragi Bjarnason said he is very excited about the results of the bird flu experiment. "People have feared that the bird flu virus will change into a human flu virus and now we have a likely cure in case that happens." Bjarnason also believes that penzim might prove a cure for common flu and cold, eczema in children and arthritis."

Comments

A few interesting things about the bird flu

[gd23ka]

and why I am sick and tired of the subject...

There are at least a dozen _known_ diseases that will just as gleefully sicken or even kill the human animal.
Why we're so upset about the bird flu and what makes it special, I don't know, except of course that the entire
subject is pushed into our faces and through our ears nonstop through the media. (Just to forestall some
comments: The rabies virus could mutate too and become airborne for all we know. Gnade uns Gott should that ever
happen).

One thing that is however noteworthy about the bird flu (wohoo!) is that "Tamiflu" the experimental drug that is
supposed to alleviate its symptoms was developed by Gilead Sciences, the company Donald Rumsfeld was Chairman
of the Board of during 1997 until being sworn in as Secretary of Defense in 2001. Another noteworthy thing is
that the United States Government has purchased and stockpiled large amounts of this largely unproven medication
and guess who still owns stock in Gilead? (La Rouche pharmaceuticals produces the drug but it pays royalties to
Gilead).

Re:Cure?

[cosmicaug]

As a guess, I would assume that this would involve much further study to determine why the enzyme was so successful in the first place and then try to make it much more potent; essentially, they see the possibility of making a cure from this but it is not ready yet.

As a wild assed guess, it is so successful in the first place because it is probably some fairly potent and fairly non selective protease. The fact that it kills viruses in a test tube means almost nothing. For this to be effective as a drug it must be able to kill these viruses in a living organism and it must do so while producing minimal damage to said living organism.