Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nanoparticle Completely Eradicates Hepatitis C Virus

Posted by timothy on from the except-for-the-few-I-take-home-to-experiment dept.

Diggester writes "While Americans worry every year about getting a flu shot or preventing HIV/AIDS, the deadlier silent killer is actually Hepatitis C, killing over 15,000 people yearly in the U.S. since 2007 — and the numbers continue to increase as the carriers increase in age. While there is no vaccine, there is hope in nanoparticle technology. The breakthrough came from a group of researchers at the University of Florida, creating a 'nanozyme' that eliminates the Hep C 100% of the time; before now, the six-month treatment would only work about half the time. The particles are coated with two biological agents, the identifier and the destroyer; the identifier recognizes the virus and sends the destroyer off to eliminate the mRNA which allows Hep C to replicate." Reader Joiseybill adds a link to coverage in the IEEE Spectrum, and points out that the 100 percent success rate, while encouraging, is so far only in the lab.

4 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. It is wonderful, but it's only in mice by ketamine-bp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, there are more than a hundred discoveries like these that demonstrated effectiveness of curing the uncurables in the past decade. Of those which went through the testing in man, well, maybe 2 or 3...

    Back then, avastin, glivec and so on were expected to be magical cures for cancers.. now they exist only as expensive life-prolonging (with or without quality) therapy and only for those who are rich.

  2. Re:Deadlier? by Nyder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "While Americans worry every year about getting a flu shot or preventing HIV/AIDS, the deadlier silent killer is actually Hepatitis C, killing over 15,000 ..."

    The flu kills each year an average number of 25000-36000 people in the US, depending on the statistics.
    http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm

    the flu kills more then terrorist, yet we spend more money defending against terrorist.

    wtf?

    --
    Be seeing you...
  3. Re:Easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Excuse me, but not all needle users are junkies. Tainted blood supplies in the early 70's gave it to me. I hope this "cure" is gentler than Interon+ribaviron.

  4. Re:Easy by robably · · Score: 4, Insightful

    why are we worried about this if the only ones who will really benefit are drug users?

    What a cunt. They're human beings.

    You think people who take drugs don't deserve to live? Fine. Go and live in a world without all the music, books and films created by drug users. No more Rolling Stones for you. No more Burroughs. No more Blake or Shelley. No Hunter S Thompson. No Carl Sagan. None of the beauty and insights and technical leaps forward that people who take drugs have given the world.

    In fact, no more computers for you. Piss off.