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Antibodies block specific viruses that cause arthritis, brain infections – Could form basis of universal therapy, vaccines for alphaviruses

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Alphaviruses — mosquito-borne viruses that can trigger brain infections and arthritis — may have met their match.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified two antibodies that protect animals from disease caused by alphaviruses. The antibodies worked for every alphavirus tested, meaning they potentially could form the basis of treatments or serve as a template for a universal vaccine.