MicrobeWorld

Researchers at the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia have identified a new treatment target for a virus that causes severe lung infections and an estimated 10% of common colds.

The virus, called human respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, is the most common reason for hospitalization of infants and children under two years of age; currently there is no effective therapy or vaccine for it.

"This discovery provides an understanding of the mechanism through which RSV causes infection and offers a target molecule for development of new cell-based therapies," said the study's principal investigator Prof. Richard Hegele, Chair and Professor in U of T's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology who is also Chief of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine at SickKids.

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