http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16142462
Lisa Dowd, Sky News correspondent
Wednesday January 04, 2012
Researchers at Oxford University developing a vaccine for Hepatitis C say they have had promising results from the first human trials.
They revealed a cousin of the common cold virus offered the first hope of an effective vaccine against the chronic liver infection.
Early trial results mirror responses seen in the minority of people with natural immunity to the disease.
Although sufferers can currently be treated for the chronic liver disease, not everyone responds.
"We've shown the vaccine can generate the kind of immune responses we wanted but we need to show they are protective in the next phase of the trial, so there's still a lot of work to do." Professor Paul Klenerman, senior researcher
But researchers hope a vaccine could protect those at risk and potentially those who already have the virus.
Brenda Deeley suffers from Hepatitis C and does not know how she contracted the disease.
She said: "I was tired. I used to get on the bus and go to work and literally fall asleep. You know when you're so tired you could cry and I thought there is something wrong."
"I went to the doctor, he did a blood test and couldn't find anything and I said to them something is wrong, then my liver test came back and it wasn't quite right and he said let's try Hepatitis C and he did a test and I was positive".
Brenda, 61, a staff secretary from Bicester, was born in South Africa.
It is thought dirty needles used during operations decades ago could be to blame for her contracting the disease, which is transmitted through the blood.
READ MORE: http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16142462
No comments:
Post a Comment