Saturday, April 01, 2006
Blood cleaning machine bird flu cure says expert
California researchers say a blood-cleaning machine could save lives if bird flu becomes a pandemic. Fighting viruses by cleansing the blood might sound too good to be true, and many infectious disease experts say it is.
The device, called the Hemopurifier, performs a type of dialysis. According to James Joyce, founder and CEO of Aethlon Medical in San Diego, it can also remove smallpox and the Ebola and Marburg viruses.
The Hemopurifier works against so many different viruses, according to Joyce, that the device could one day serve as a “portable immune system.”
Joyce’s lofty claims make some infectious-disease specialists bristle. For one thing, dialysis carries a serious risk of infection, something Joyce himself admits.
“But if there is no alternative but death,” said Joyce, “I’m betting that patients and their doctors will want this as an option.”