CoviD treatment in spitting distance?
Published April 30, 2020
Texan and Belgian researchers are looking at llamas — the larger, smarter, and meaner cousins of alpacas — for a potential CoviD-19 treatment. Essentially, llamas produce an antibody that can be tweaked to block the “spike” that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to get into cells. The potential treatment (if it works) would work like a vaccine and a cure.
“Vaccines have to be given a month or two before infection to provide protection. With antibody therapies, you’re directly giving somebody the protective antibodies and so, immediately after treatment, they should be protected. The antibodies could also be used to treat somebody who is already sick to lessen the severity of the disease.”
