NIH is set to launch a major test that uses antibodies to test a way to prevent birth defects

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is set to launch a major test that uses antibodies to test a way to prevent birth defects, such as blindness and deafness, caused by mothers who passes a common virus to their unborn child born.



Blood plasma group CSL Australia said Thursday that donerebbe $ 2.5 million value of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies from human plasma for testing at the NIH in the United States.



The analysis of the test is expected in 2016.



There is no vaccine available yet to prevent the infection of CMV, the most common infection that causes birth defects. It affects 1-2 percent of women for the first time during their pregnancy and their one-third of those pass it on to their unborn children.



More children are born with CMV infection of Down syndrome, and almost as much as with cerebral palsy, said Bill Rawlinson, a virologist at the top doctor at the University of New South Wales.



Children infected with CMV may be born with serious problems, including inability to understand the mental and physical. In rare cases, can be fatal.



About 1 percent of children in the U.S. are born with CMV infection, with about 11 percent of those symptoms of exposure at birth and a small portion that has the following effects.



Scientists have studied using the antiviral and vaccines, but the immunoglobulin appears to be the most promising therapy for pregnant women.



"I think this (the test) is a good way to do it because it will take a definitive answer," Rawlinson told reporters.



The clinical trial will begin this month, shielding around 150,000 pregnant women over four years, going up to test the antibodies injected 400 and 400 to receive a placebo. Infants born to women in the study will be followed by two years.



The principal scientific officer of CSL, Andrew Cuthbertson, said if the test was successful, the therapy could be made available within this decade.