Drug that CURES flu, killing the virus in 24 hours could be available next year
A DRUG that cures the flu by killing the virus in less than 24 hours could be available next year, new research suggests.
The experimental drug worked three times faster than other drugs on the market, tests revealed.
The Japanese clinical trial found a single dose of the drug, made by pharmaceutical company Shionogi &; Co, was enough to kill both Aussie and Japanese flu, reported.
Rather than working to block the flu virus from multiplying in the body's cells, this drug works to block to virus from invading cells in the first place.
The flu is spread through the body when the virus invades cells.
Once it is in the cells it is able to force the cell to make copies of the virus, which then breaks out of the cells and invades the rest of the body.
Drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza, currently available in the UK, can only stop the virus from entering the cells.
Once the virus is in the cells the drug is ineffective.
The new drug could be available in Japan as early as March.
Commenting on the findings, Martin Howell Friede, who leads the World Health Organisation’s advisory on vaccines, including for influenza, told the Journal: "The data that we’ve seen looks very promising.
"This could be a breakthrough in the way that we treat influenza."
The UK has been hit with one of its worst flu seasons this year with the number of people killed by the bug this winter rising to 215.
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But new cases of the bug are "stabilising", new figures revealed last week.
Last week some 3,745 people were admitted to hospital with the flu, down 14 per cent from the 4,372 the week before, as NHS figures reveal the health service has suffered through its second-worst month on record.
More than 55 per cent (2,097) were suffering from influenza B, the majority of which is caused by the Japanese flu, Public Health England figures revealed.
And 561 people were suffering from the Aussie flu, with 14 fighting for their lives with the deadly H3N2 strain.
Getting vaccinated is still the best defence against the flu.
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Health officials renewed their pleas for people to have the flu jab, adding "it's not too late to protect yourself and your family".
Experts have previously told The Sun Online Aussie flu symptoms are likely to be more severe than swine flu, which triggered the last major flu pandemic in the winter of 2009/10.
Professor Robert Dingwall, a flu expert at Nottingham Trent University told The Sun Online the UK must brace itself for the flu crisis to "get worse before it gets better".
While it's still early in the flu season, he warned "we have good reason to think it could be the worst winter for ten to 15 years, if not decades".
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