America's first two WNV encephalitis cases of 2004 respond to treatment

GenoMed, Inc. has announced that the country's second case of West Nile virus encephalitis has responded promptly to its treatment approach. So far, GenoMed's treatment is showing a 100% response rate among 13 immunocompetent patients. The sooner the treatment is instituted, the more rapid and more complete the response.

The first case involved a 79 year old man treated in Portsmouth, Ohio. The latest case involves a 67 year old man from Marion, Arkansas. What makes this case especially interesting is that this gentleman was immunosuppressed until just a few days before receiving GenoMed's treatment. He took 30 mg of Prednisone for 11 years because of arthritis, before his physicians were able to wean his Prednisone dose down to 5 mg a day. After 4 days on this dose, he began GenoMed's treatment on Monday, June 7, and within 24 hours his West Nile virus encephalitis was dramatically improved.

For the previous two weeks, he had had a headache, with nausea, vomiting, no appetite, lethargy, and disorientation. He had no interest in getting out of bed, and had no idea where he was. Within 24 hours of starting GenoMed's treatment, by Tuesday afternoon, June 8th, he was sitting up in bed, asked to get out of bed for the first time in two weeks, and eagerly ate his whole supper. He was oriented for the first time in two weeks, and said he felt "70% better".

GenoMed's record is now 13-0 for immunocompetent patients, including 3 patients who began treatment months after their episode of West Nile virus encephalitis. When treated during their episode of WNV encephalitis, patients have responded within 24 hours, as this patient did. Such a rapid response is extremely unusual for WNV encephalitis, which usually takes many days to resolve.

GenoMed's sole failure occurred in a woman with chronic leukemia treated last September, 2003. The company therefore recommends other treatments for obviously immunosuppressed patients. The results of Dr. Moskowitz’s first eight patients, including the patient with CLL, will be published next month in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

GenoMed's goal is to eliminate the threat of West Nile virus from the general population on the 50th anniversary of the famous 1954 polio field trials which ended the threat of polio in the U.S. For more information, click on the "West Nile trial" link at http://www.genomedics.com.