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Recent experiences with chikungunya have demonstrated that we have much to learn about this illness. The causative virus is mosquito borne and can cause massive outbreaks of infection (JW Infect Dis Feb 27 2008). Moreover, some of those infected — including older individuals, persons with underlying conditions, and neonates born to viremic mothers — develop severe illness. Currently, no effective treatment is available. Knowing that hyperimmune serum is sometimes used for treating or preventing other viral infections, investigators in France wondered whether that approach might be useful for chikungunya as well.
To explore this possibility, the researchers conducted a series of experiments using mouse infection models. (Neonatal mice, as wel…