A University of Queensland scientist is jointly responsible for the discovery of four antibodies, which open the way for accurate diagnoses of the deadly West Nile virus.
The antibodies have been licensed to US-based Chemicon International, a leading producer of infectious disease antibodies and testing kits, by UniQuest Pty Limited, UQ’s technology commercialisation company
Dr Roy Hall of UQ and Dr Annette Broome of the University of Western Australia isolated the antibodies, which can detect extremely small amounts of the West Nile virus and discriminate it from other related virus.
The virus causes a swelling of the brain and is similar to encephalitis.
The antibodies isolated and characterised by Dr Hall form the basis of a diagnostic test for rapidly and accurately detecting the West Nile virus, which is reasonably easy to control if discovered in its early stages.
The antibodies and tests can be used in research and epidemiology applications, as well as in the development of vaccines, where they are used to identify the parts of the virus that are produce the best immune response.
They were pivotal in identifying the different strains involved in the recent outbreak in New York and will be useful in identifying further strains as they appear.
Chemicon International will add them to their product range and aim to launch an antibody based diagnostic test (ELISA) in the near future.
The announcement of the licensing deal coincides with a warning this week by UQ expert Professor John MacKenzie about the threat to Australia of the mosquito and bird borne virus.
Professor MacKenzie has advocated the reintroduction of fumigation procedures on aircraft arriving in Australia from the US, where 2405 cases of West Nile virus including 117 deaths have been reported this year.
There was a scare earlier this year when Australian Quarantine Inspection Service found that a Canadian horse quarantined with a contingent of international stallions in Sydney had suffered from West Nile virus.
The virus, first detected in Uganda in 1937, can also be lethal to horses and domestic and wild birds. Its appearance in North America in 1999 is believed to be an important milestone in its evolution.
Media: For further information, contact Anne-Marie Birkill of UniQuest (telephone 07 3365 6937) or Brad Turner at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2659 or email: communications@uq.edu.au).
