Black llama has the key against Coronavirus

Description

Suddenly, a shy black llama, has become the hero of this fight!

Mischievous black llama posing and grinning while holding a green key with its teeth. It feels proud of having the key that shows scientists a way to fight coronavirus. The head of the key shows a dead coronavirus. The bottom of the image has a text that says “I have the key”.

Download this cool image and help spread hope at this difficult times.

In difficult times, there is always a place for humor and positivism, there are several clues in the track to avoid, diminish or even end the impact of Coronavirus and other viruses. Several teams of researchers all around the world work to find treatments, vaccines or ways to kill viruses. Or at least, to prevent the disastrous effects in health and global economy.

What does a little llama have to do with the fight against coronavirus

In fact, one of the tracks has to do with a very nice young llama, a black Belgian llama. Belgian? Were not they Peruvian or Bolivian? Yes, it was born in Belgium and more, its name is Winter.

The competition to find a treatment against coronavirus led to a surprising hero: a young Belgian llama. Its antibodies give a good hope in stopping the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from infecting cells.

Researchers from several Universities around the world started looking into llama blood four years ago while looking for antibodies to fight different types of coronaviruses. Camelids such as llamas and alpacas, produce two kinds of antibodies to detect bacteria and viruses. The first one is similar to human antibodies while the most interesting of them are smaller antibodies called nanobodies. These nanobodies are easier for scientists to work with, and can also be used in an inhaler.

How does llama antibodies kill coronaviruses?

Coronavirus gets its name for having a crown shape (corona in Spanish), which is composed by protein spikes that let the virus get into into healthy cells that become hosts. Preliminary research finds that the nanobodies from llamas’ blood can someway tie the coronavirus spikes, and avoid the infection of cells.

The scientists are ready for studies in little animals such as rodents and primates, and expect to go to human trials by the end of the year. The idea is to have a treatment ready to be applied to people infected with the virus. Everything drives to say that negotiations are open with pharmaceutical companies.

In the meanwhile spread the good news, don’t wait to download this nice image!