Israeli cure for West Nile?

Arizona centers test experimental treatments

HANK NEYER
Contributing Editor

The blood of Israelis may hold the key to curing West Nile virus in the United States.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the virus has been endemic in Israel for decades, and many Israelis who donate blood have antibodies to the disease. Omrix, an Israeli company, has developed an immunoglobulin product that will be tested at about 60 sites in the United States and Canada, including three in Arizona. The product, Omr-IgG-am(tm), is based on West Nile virus antibodies derived from Israeli blood donors with high levels of the antibodies.

The Arizona test facilities are The Barrow Neurological Institute affiliated with St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix; the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale; and an affiliate of the University of Arizona in Tucson. According to the NIH, the study, conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (one of the National Institutes of Health), will test the safety and preliminary effectiveness of using a product containing these antibodies to treat people whose infection has reached or threatens to reach the brain.

Dr. Philip Fracica, director of medical critical care and respiratory services at St. Joseph's, explained that the NIH will ship blood from Israel along with domestic (American) blood and a saline solution to participating centers. He emphasized that the program is a test, "a theory."

According to Fracica, pa-tients who exhibit a "specific combination of West Nile symptoms - including fever, signs of spinal fluid inflammation and neuro-logical (nervous) system abnormalities" - must be treated within a few days for the test to be valid. Fracica said that three out of five patients will receive Israeli blood, one will get U.S. blood, and one will get saline solution. The dis-pensing will be random, and even the physicians will not know what they are supplying, he said.

Records will be sent to NIH, which will analyze the results.

Mayo Clinic spokeswoman Anne Tewksbury said the Scottsdale clinic has been approved for a dozen test slots, adding that while no participants have been identified, "enrollment is imminent."

The tests come not a moment too soon for Arizona and especially the Phoenix metropolitan area; an Aug. 17 Associated Press story reports that the Valley is the epicenter of the West Nile virus epidemic, that more than half of this year's cases are in Arizona and that most of those are in Maricopa County. The Associated Press reports that state health officials estimate at least 30,000 Arizonans may have the virus without knowing it, although only 1 percent of West Nile cases develop life-threatening symptoms.

The Israeli blood that is being used in the study comes from the Magen David Adom national blood service center in Ramat Gan, Israel. (Ramat Gan is expected to become Phoenix's next sister city.) Jay Bycer, a coordinator for Arizona Friends of ARMDI (American Red Magen David for Israel), said it is important for people to know that an Israeli institution may have the capability to save American lives.

According to Bycer, re-sponding to emergencies is just one of the many things that MDA does. The organization also conducts all blood work for the Jewish state, including research; operates more than 100 emergency cen-ters; and teaches Israelis, Americans and Europeans how to handle emergencies related to terror attacks.

For additional information on Magen David Adom, contact ARMDI at 602-787-2930.

Staff Writer Jennifer Goldberg contributed to this article.

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