Deadly pathogens can be stopped.

• Position: Viruses - Nipah and Hendra viruses

A potential treatment for two lethal and emerging viruses--Nipah and Hendra, for which there is no cure or vaccine--has been identified by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. The approach also could lead to new therapies for measles, mumps, and the flu.

Nipah and Hendra are members of the genus Henipavirus, a new class of virus in the Paramyxoviridae family, which includes the measles and the human parainfluenza virus (HPIV, the cause of pediatric respiratory disease). The henipaviruses are carried by fruit bats (flying foxes) and are capable of causing illness and death in domestic animals and humans.

"These viruses are of great concern. The Hendra virus is highly fatal and is considered a potential agent of bioterrorism. It currently poses a serious threat to livestock in Australia, where sporadic and deadly transmission to humans has occurred, with the potential for broader disseminations' notes Matteo Porotto, the study's lead author and assistant professor of microbiology in pediatrics.

"In addition, the Nipah virus, which causes fatal encephalitis in up to 70% of human cases, is responsible for seasonal outbreaks in Asia with person-to-person transmission now becoming a primary mode of infection. This virus could certainly cause global outbreaks."

Porotto and colleagues present a new strategy to prevent and treat these infections that may be broadly applicable for other "enveloped" viral pathogens, characterized by an outer wrapping that comes from the infected host cell.

According to Porotto, it is difficult to...