Research uncovers life-saving benefits in the battle against viruses
The research, led by Professor Vince Emery, Senior Vice-President (Global Strategy and Engagement) and Professor of Translational Virology at the University of Surrey, has developed a model that will provide vital insight into how best to help patients with Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, particularly those who have undergone organ transplantation. CMV can be serious if the patient's immune system is not fully functioning, as in transplant patients on immune-suppressant drugs, or for HIV patients in the advanced stages of AIDS. In these cases, CMV can cause major health problems, affecting a range of organs and contributing to early death, which obviously makes it vital to understand how to control the virus. The mainstay of therapy for CMV has been an antiviral drug called Ganciclovir, which mimics the building blocks of DNA and stops the virus from replicating. In the current study, the researchers used information from a large clinical trial of Ganciclovir for the treatme...