- LONDON (Reuters) - A chemotherapy treatment given to patients with an
immune system disorder may work for human avian influenza, but it has not
been tested in patients, researchers said on Thursday.
-
- Dr Jan-Inge Henter of the Karolinska
Hospital in Stockholm said at the moment it was a theory.
-
- But he and colleagues in Hong Kong believe
chemotherapy treatment could work because of the similarities between human
infection with H5N1 bird flu and an illness known as haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
(HLH).
-
- "Since the mortality from H5N1 infection
is high, and since there is concern that the virus could cause a pandemic,
novel treatments for human beings are warranted," Henter said in his
hypothesis, published online by The Lancet medical journal.
-
- The H5N1 bird flu virus, which has spread
from Asia to birds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has killed 94
people since 2003. Global health experts fear the virus could mutate into
a pandemic strain capable of killing millions of people.
-
- Henter said human infection with H5N1
produces similar symptoms to people suffering from HLH, an illness that
produces too many white blood cells which can accumulate in healthy tissue
and cause organ damage and death.
-
- HLH can be inherited or can develop after
a severe infection by a virus such as Epstein-Barr.
-
- Children with the inherited form of HLH
usually died until Henter and other scientists developed the chemotherapy
treatment in 1994. Henter said the treatment had reduced deaths in children
and had produced similar results in people with the secondary form of disorder.
-
- "Now we know that HLH also occurs
in patients with avian flu," Henter explained in an interview.
-
- "There are clinical similarities
and similarities at autopsy. So why shouldn't one use a treatment that
has been successful in other forms of HLH induced by viruses?" he
asked.
-
- The chemotherapy drug etoposide, which
helps to kill excess immune cells, is the basis for the treatment for HLH
which the scientists believe should be tested on patients with the H5N1
virus.
-
- The treatment is usually given for 8
weeks. Henter said there is risk involved in the treatment but it has improved
survival in patients. Side effects can include low blood count and moderate
nausea.
-
- "I think it is reasonable to consider
this in the medical community. It is reasonable to discuss whether one
could initiate a clinical study," said Henter.
-
- He added that he would welcome the World
Health Organization to consider a platform for doing clinical trails of
the treatment for human cases of bird flu.
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