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

Cure?

[nebaz]

Not to state the obvious here, but if it kills 90% of the virus, doesn't that just mean that next year we'll get a flue completely immune to this stuff?

Re:Cure?

[HappySqurriel]

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.

Re:Cure?

[malsdavis]

The virus may mutate into a form resistant to the enzyme in the future but it would then no longer be the same virus strain, the virus would have to start all over again and it may not even succeed. There is no reason why other 'cured' viruses like smallpox & polio couldn't have mutated and beat their cures (although influenza does mututate more than small pox) but they didn't and now the world is free of them.

If proven effective in the real world then it is still a cure, saying otherwise is like saying "Why bother trying to cure the disease, everyone is going to die someday".

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.

Re:Cure?

[megaditto]

Since this sounds too good to be true, I think it has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Well, a 1-in-10 dilution of chlorine-based household bleach will kill 100% of the germs. But what's good for treating biohazard might not be good for treating children.

I know it's Troll Wednesday, but what the hell...

Re:Cure?

[myrdos2]

The concern about the bird flu is that it's completely alien to humans, and is therefore very deadly. Once people have been exposed to it, their immune systems will be much more resistant to mutated strains. Also note that new viruses, such as swine and avian flu, tend to become less deadly of their own accord! It's not in the survival interests of a virus to kill off its hosts. (Who will then carry the virus?) Less deadly strains tend to do better.

No, it's the first emergence of an unknown virus that is feared here, and it's the new exposure that has the potential to kill off hundreds of millions of us. Next year's strain of the flu will be much less severe, and it will gradually degrade to just another influenza. That's whats happened with these things in the past.

So something that can kill off the virus when it first emerges would be very beneficial, because that's when the most lives are lost.

Re:Cure?

[tloh]

There is an infectious threshold that a contagion needs to pass before it can spread through a population as an epidemic. If used properly, a drug that is 99% effective can nip it in the bud before the epidemic stage provides an opportunity for widspread replication and the chances for mutation.. If it doesn't reproduce much in the wild, it doesn't get a whole lot of opportunity to mutate into something dangerous. Used incorrectly, or abused in obviously stupid ways to serve other ends, be it political or otherwise, resistance *will* be a problem in the future.

The problem of non-human hosts (birds, obviously, but also swines), however, complicates the picture a bit. Using drugs to treat human cases goes a long way toward keeping an epidemic in check. This is especially true considering how mobile we are in this day and age. The agriculture industry has also had mixed success in keeping domestic livestock safe. But what worries a lot of experts are migratory wild birds. They are the one variable we have almost no control over.

On a slightly different note, the flu seems to be giving up a lot of its secrets. There is a timely article from reuters via Yahoo that highlights some new (?maybe old but uncirculated in the mainstream press?) information researchers have uncovered about the 1918 flu and the similarities to H5N1.

As such, maybe this drug, if developed and used properly, is enough to deal with the problem. Kill 99% with the drug. Let the immune system, unmolested and unprovoked, deal with the remaining 1%.

Re:Cure?

[WobindWonderdog]

I think it has to be taken with a grain of salt. It isn't likely that it'll work as well as they hope. Huh, in my day it was a 'spoonful of sugar', but each to their own, I guess...

Re:Cure?

[cluckshot]

Actually there is a medical tool that can do nearly as well as the bleach solution without killing the patient. Specifically if you take a 910nm YAG pulsed 1/10,000 sec 10 times per sec at about 250 watts for a duration of about 30 seconds and applied locally to the site of the infection, very nearly any virus or bacteria known and even some other agents can be blasted into oblivion while assisting the life processes of the human tissues surrounding.

No this isn't an American technology. No it isn't fiction or fantasy. The process has been tested against even HIV and Hep C. It works. The WOW that it is applies to a wide range of medical problems. The specific process is known as cold lasers in sports medicine. Yes you could have the flu and be treated in a few seconds without drug side effects. I personally have seen this technology resolve a MRSA cyst about 1/2 the size of a large egg over night. The amount of treatment time was 30 seconds. The cyst was in an 82yo female who had acquired this post surgical and it was treated unsuccessfully with 30 day of intense IV medication including Vancomycin and other meds.

This works by driving the life function of the human cells directly by photosynthetic process. It would appear that the process also overdrives the material in the infectious agents. Thus the process causes health in 2 ways. It will remove edema (swelling) in a few seconds. It causes very fast healing. It relieves most pain issues in seconds of at most over a course of 3 or 4 treatments a few hours apart. It is so effective it should be required as a post-op treatment for patients. It is a treatment that is so effective it can literally stop the flu or even destroy deep in tissue infections like those hard to treat sinus infections with nearly instant effect. As such the Bird Flu and any other flu epidemic should be a few laser pulses from oblivion.

Re:Cure?

[KKlaus]

Reminds me of something someone once quipped about AIDS. Finding an effective killer of HIV is easy, and in fact pretty much every average joe has it in his house. Its called bleach. Now finding a cure that won't kill the host organism...

Re:Cure?

[AlexanderDitto]

How do you kill hundreds of thousands of viruses with a laser that causes photosynthesis? Bah. Have you been reading too much of the national Exagerator?

Photobiomodulation, according to Wikipedia, sounds like what you're talking about, but the article is relativley lacking in sources, and only boasts that "Certain wavelengths of light at certain intensities (delivered by laser, LED or another monochromatic source) will aid tissue regeneration, resolve inflammation, relieve pain and boost the immune system." Doesn't sound much like removal of Hep C or HIV.

As human beings, we tend to get very excited at even the smallest most remote possibility of a miracle drug. I definitley think this needs to get lots of funding, and fast, but don't be too disappointed if it fizzles out. We've just got to keep trying. Hopefully, we find the plant or organism that holds the key before it dies out (aka we kill it).

Re:Cure?

[TheLink]

Just a note: Polio is not eradicated yet. And may even be making a comeback due to stupid countries like Nigeria.

Re:Cure?

[R2.0]

Apples and oranges. Neither smallox nor polio was "cured", in the manner implied in the original post. Smallpox and polio have been (nearly) eradicated via removing their ability to infect new hosts, by means of vaccines protecting tose potential hosts. And the vaccines activated our own immune systems, and didn't have a direct effect on the smallpox and polio viruses.

This enzyme is being toutes as a "cure" in the sense that it can eliminate bird flue in those already infected by it by acting directly on the virus. That is how antibiotics work, and the GP has a point - if the stuff only kills 90%, there is a risk of resistant strains developing. For that matter, it's already happening - researchers are finding Tamiflu resistant strains of bird flu already.

Act of Cod?

[halovaa]

What God giveth, Cod taketh away

Re:Act of Cod?

[Short Circuit]

Can He break a single vaccine dose into thousands? :)

Yes, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Bjarnason also believes that penzim might prove a cure for common flu and cold, eczema in children and arthritis."

That's all great, but I've been using Dr. Wurster's Miracle Decoction for 70 years. I'll be darned if I'll switch unless it also cures migraines and decapitation, at least.

WTF???

[cosmicaug]

WTF? Bleach also kills H5N1 viruses. That does not make bleach a cure for the bird flu.

Re:WTF???

[Socks of Doom]

Bleach will also kill you. This enzyme, seeing as it was already in development for medicine and beauty products, hopefully won't.

Though I wouldn't go out and wolf down covergirl if you get the sniffles.

The amazing Cod

[Giant Ape Skeleton]

Cod...is there anything they can't do?

Re:The amazing Cod

[cosmicaug]

Cod works in mysterious ways.

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:A few interesting things about the bird flu

[cosmicaug]

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).

That's a pretty fucking awful example to pick.

It is bloody unlikely that rabies will mutate into an airborne virus anytime soon. It would essentially have to become a completely different virus.

Influenza, on the other hand, is known for it's amazing mutational and recombinational "ability".

Rabies is not known for causing great pandemics associated producing very substantial mortality.

Influenza, on the other hand, is known for causing great pandemics producing very substantial mortality.

Rabies does not truly have the potential to create massive epidemics in livestock animals which may serve as a reservoirs from whence a human disease outbreak may start.

Avian influenza, on the other hand, does.

Rabies does not truly have the potential to create massive epidemics in wild animals which may serve as widespread infectious sources for domestic animals and as a reservoir from whence a human disease outbreak may start.

Avian influenza, on the other hand, does.

Animal infected by rabies are very rarely (if ever) the types to engage in the sorts of great migrations which may sometimes literally span the globe.

Animals infected by avian influenza, on the other hand, sometimes are.

I could probably go on (or maybe not --but I'm not about to try).

Re:A few interesting things about the bird flu

[gd23ka]

I picked rabies for the "Shock and Awe" effect (remember that slogan from somewhere?). I suppose
Ebola virus or the lesser known Marburg virus would be better candidates. But then you might
also note that Rabies has claimed to our knowledge more human lives than the bird flu.

Another fact is, virii and other pathogens have been out and about for a Very-Long-Time and the bird
flu didn't just appear yesterday. In other words, it had plenty of opportunity for
thousands of years to kill us - just like the thousands of virii we don't even know about and
that could cull the human herd any day.

Re:A few interesting things about the bird flu

[Waffle Iron]

Nevertheless, in contrast to most every other disease, an influenza pandemic *did* suddenly kill ~50 million people less than a century ago. This proves that it can happen, and nothing fundamental has changed that would prevent it from happening again. None of your hemming and hawing changes that.

Re:A few interesting things about the bird flu

[gd23ka]

Nothing fundamental has changed that it will be the bird flu that will kill any sizeable
portion of the world's population and still it is getting watts of media attention.

An asteroid impact by the way is just as likely and will prove probably far deadlier to
all species on the planet.

A little less likely than the asteroid scenario but still a possibility would be a
gamma ray burst caused by some calamity of sorts like a supernova in our nearer
interstellar neighborhood. Mighty bird flu might survive that, though it would be a
phyric victory without a host.

I'm sure that between us and the rest of slashdot we can come up with a couple of
hundred likely doomsday scenarios before the discussion goes overboard with say "DRM enforcing
land mines". As it stands, the flu issue is getting too much attention and I for one
refuse to participate in what I perceive to be a Fear Uncertainty and Doubt campaign.

Re:A few interesting things about the bird flu

[jezmund]

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).

I'm not sure why this is "interesting". The reason there is such an interest in the bird flu is due to the danger it poses. It's quite simple, actually. Due to a couple factors I won't get into here, the flu mutates very quickly. The obvious consequence of this is that it is constantly evading the human immune system. It also means that it can quickly mutate to forms that are far more deadly and far more transmissible than the flu normally is. Currently, the bird flu already has the "far more deadly" aspect. It kills roughly 50% of the people infected with it. As of right now, it still has trouble being transmitted, so it is not killing many people. However, due to the ease with which the flu mutates it is very simple for the bird flu to become highly infectious. So, we're a chance encounter away from a virus that could quickly kill millions of people in a single season. Moreover, there is a precedent for this: the 1918 flu. And that flu had a lower mortality rate than H5N1 currently has. Will H5N1 mutate to quickly spread among humans? We don't know. What we do know is that it most certainly will mutate, and that it has the ability to mutate into a pandemic form.

As for Tamiflu, your point only makes sense if Donald Rumsfeld controls the entire scientific and medical communities, as well as the worldwide press. I suggest that instead of reading conspiracy theory bulletin boards, you check out the Flu Wiki to find out more about the subject.

Smells fishy...

[Wdi]

Seriously.

It is highly unlikely that any enzyme can be developed into any useful cure for a virus infection, for pharmacokinetics, transport and stability issues alone.

It is not difficult to kill anything. The same amount of bleach would kill reliably 100% of the virus in the test tube.

The problem is to develop a substance which is selective, has acceptable side-effects and actually reaches the target when the virus has embedded itself in the cells, which is not easy.

Re:Smells fishy...

[GeffDE]

Most plants do not require other organisms. While some plants use nitrogen fixers (like legumes, peanuts and clover), there are others, like cotton, which do not rely on nitrogen fixers and will just suck all the nitrogen out of the soil. This is why George Washington Carver advocated rotating cotton with peanuts. The same goes for trees. Granted, plants would eventually all perish if there were no decomposers, but if they were fed artifical fertilizers, they do not depend on other organisms the way viruses depend on others.

That's not the point I want to make though. Although multicellular organisms are much more complex than a bacteria, bacteria are many many many times more complex than viruses. Viruses are basically a protective capsule around genetic information, similar to, but stil less complex than the nucleus in a eukaryotic cell. Bacteria have many different structures and functions, including many pathways (generally more than even eukaryotic cells) for generating energy, as well as structures for regulating both the environment inside and outside their cellular membrane. All these bacteria are completely independent. The debate over whether viruses are alive or dead is not about whether something depends on something else, or how complex it is. It really boils down to this: 1) Biologists claim that there are 7 indications of life that must be met for something to be alive, and viruses do not meet all these criteria; 2) biologists also say that the central point of life, its meaning if you will, is to reproduce, and viruses certainly do do this. If viruses replicate and adapt like living things even though they do not exhibit all the signs of life, are they alive? That is the question...

This May Bring Back The Old Cure-All

[Soloact]

This might bring back the old use of Cod Liver Oil. Our Grandmothers weren't stupid, they knew its health benefits.

Re:This May Bring Back The Old Cure-All

[eluusive]

Or you could use flax seed oil instead and stop eating so many omega-6's instead of consuming oil from a practically endangered species.

ineed!

[RelliK]

Kill Bird flu with Fish!

Beautiful

[digitalhermit]

Many species of cod are endangered or near-endangered. A while ago some politician (don't remember who) made a statement to the effect that, "who cares about insect." Would be funny if human survival ended up being dependent on some obscure snail.

Re:Beautiful

[dbcad7]

I remember reading that Cod were getting smaller, because the smaller fish escaping the nets, were breeding with smaller fish escaping the nets.. Looked for a link and can't find the story... maybe I dreamed it.. Never mind.

Birds/Fish

[Nux'd]

Nice one nature..

Give the ability to fight off bird flu to an animal most unlikely to encounter a bird.

Lucky fishes..

Re:Birds/Fish

[Nux'd]

Are you suggesting that the fish meal needs to defend itself?

Well that explains it

[mgabrys_sf]

Probably why I've never seen a Cod sneeze before.

Stop the presses!

[overtly_demure]

Wow! An enzyme destroys bird flu viruses under carefully controlled lab conditions in saline buffer, therefore it will also kill them in a greasy and presumably protein-denaturing cosmetic preparation! Not only is this horrible non-disease that has so far been a miniscule threat to humans now defeated, albeit only in principle and under conditions completely different than those being proposed, but it can be done by simply wearing makeup! Don't fear the bird flu, get all decadent and wear lots of makeup! While you're at it, drink! Do drugs! Have sex with abandon! Buy lots of cool stuff! Get totally wild! Buy an iPhone! Run around in the street screaming and singing while flailing your arms around and lolling your tongue! Take cell phone videos of yourself and friends doing it all! We are saved!

Yet another example of shameless self-promotion by a scientist who should know better. Much better.

Flu is newsworthy because it's killed before

[derdesh]

One reason epidemiologists are especially concerned about avian flu because flu pandemics have killed tens of millions of people before. This was in 1918 when the public health system was less developed, but population densities and the mobility of the human population are much greater today.

Another respondent has already detailed the other reasons why an avian flu is logistically more threatening. Your political/conspiracy theory may be completely true and valid, but the fact remains that people are concerned about the flu rather than ebola or airborne rabies because it's the disease that has been observed to kill in great numbers in the recent, documented past.

The fact that Donald Rumsfeld might be profiteering from the hype does not mean that avian flu is not a real threat.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Viruses

[dexter riley]

Viruses. The plural of virus is viruses.