Treating patient, not virus, could beat many flu strains at once

A radical new approach to fighting influenza could not only save countless lives each year, it could pave the way for other drugs in the future. Called Vasculotide, it represents a paradigm shift in the thinking of fighting deadly viruses. Rather than trying to kill the virus itself, or stop it from infecting the body, Vasculotide simply stops the infected body from leaking fluid into the lungs. That’s all it does — yet, in testing, it was able to save 80% of two types of mice from three different and normally completely fatal strains of the flu. This is possible because, while Vasculotide completely stops the virus’s ability to enact its single most deadly symptom, the drug does not depress the natural immune system in the process. Our immune systems are almost always capable of killing off invaders, but not always of doing so before the virus kills the host. By simply...