New York Daily News
May 06, 2020 6:00 PM
Winter the llama (not seen in this photo of another llama) could be a coronavirus hero.(ShutterStock)
From member of the herd to herd immunity.
The star of the show is named Winter, one of about 130 llamas and alpacas living on a research farm in Belgium, the Washington Post reported. He was part of a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Texas at Austin and Ghent University in Belgium.
Winter the llama started his anti-coronavirus work back in 2016, well before the current outbreak, according to Reuters. At that time, he was given non-lethal versions of the SARS and MERS viruses. Both are similar in structure to the virus causing the current pandemic.
In response to such invasive viruses, llamas create tiny antibodies, known as nanobodies. In 2016, Winter produced nanobodies shown to neutralize both SARS and MERS.
But in 2016 there was no COVID-19, and Winter’s work was more of a side project, researchers told UT News.
When the new coronavirus began spreading, however, the group sprang into action. They linked two copies of the llama’s anti-SARS nanobody and found that the new antibody neutralized the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
That new treatment is now being tested on hamsters in Belgium, the Post reported. Human clinical trials would then be the next step.
This particular anti-coronavirus measure would be more effective as a treatment to already infected people, not as a vaccine, according to researchers.
This group’s llama-based efforts are among a number of different research projects into possible vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.
