Antiviral could call time on measles

• Autores: Debora MacKenzie
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2966, 2014, pág. 14
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • To protect people from most viruses, they need to be vaccinated before they catch them. Once they've been infected by a virus, there are very few drugs that can attack it. But a drug now promises to battle the measles virus in much the same way that antibiotics fight bacteria. Epidemiologists have dreamed of eradicating measles--a disease that killed 122,000 people in 2012, mostly children in poor countries under the age of five. But the virus is making a comeback in rich countries because some parents are deciding not to vaccinate their children against it, influenced by inaccurate claims that vaccines cause harm. Here, MacKenzie discusses how an antiviral drug could fight the disease in people who have been exposed but are not vaccinated or have lost immunity.