CHICAGO, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- University of Chicago lung researchers are studying two experimental compounds to treat avian flu victims before standard drugs are in place, a report said.
Rather than fight the virus itself, should avian flu mutate and become a pandemic, the drugs would dampen the immune system's deadly response to such viruses, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The approach would address what the team sees as potential weaknesses in the Bush administration's proposal to spend billions on flu vaccines that may take years to arrive and anti-flu medications such as Tamiflu.
Last week, Vietnamese researchers said two bird flu patients developed resistance to Tamiflu and died.
University of Chicago researchers Skip Garcia and Steven Dudek said the experimental compounds they are testing would cause the walls of lung blood vessels to move closer together and prevent people from "drowning in their own fluid," Dudek said.
