Channel 7--Hemopurifier to Rid Blood of Deadly Viruses
ABC 7 News - Hemopurifier to Rid Blood of Deadly Viruses
There could soon be a new treatment option for a million people world-wide who suffer from incurable diseases.
Scientists are working on a cartridge called the "hemopurifier" that can clean the blood by ridding it of deadly viruses and toxins.
Jeannie Gibbs has suffered from HIV for 11 years.
"It's difficult. I'm on oxygen and it takes a lot out of me. It's hard to live a normal life," Gibbs said.
The hemopurifier is not a cure for any disease, but could fill a treatment void for viruses that are drug and vaccine-resistant.
HIV patients have a limited number of drug regimens to manage their conditions and eventually they become resistant to all the drugs, and are left without options.
The hemopurifier could change that by removing the virus from the blood.
"This is a methodology to remove those mutant strains so they can stay on their drugs for extended periods of time," says Jim Joyce, of Aethlon Medical, developer of the hemopurifier.
The hemopurifier is a single-use disposable cartridge that hooks up to existing dialysis machines.
Blood enters the cartridge, travels through hollow spaghetti-looking fibers where viruses and toxins are selectively captured by small pores on the fibers' walls.
Blood circulates through the cartridge every eight minutes for about four hours.
According to Joyce, "The goal of treatment is to bridge the natural immune response to give your own response additional time to mount its own abilities to recover from infection."
Researchers believe it could benefit millions of patients with HIV, Hepatitis C and potentially cancer.
The device could also be used with a portable pump to survive bio-weapons like Ebola and smallpox or viruses like the bird flu.
"Something that would be effective against more than a single agent is logically the thing to focus our efforts on," says Dr. Charles Bailey, who is the Director of George Mason's Center of Bio defense and Infectious Diseases.
The hemopurifier is not a cure for any disease, but could fill a treatment void for viruses that are drug and vaccine resistant.
Most patients, like dialysis patients, would use the hemopurifier repeatedly.
The device is still being tested, but could be in hospitals in the next two years.
