To Develop a Vaccine against Covid-19, Scientists Are Recruiting Other Viruses to Fight the War

To Develop a Vaccine against Corona virus, Scientists Are Recruiting Other Viruses to Fight the War

• In the micro world of disease, our enemies sometimes become our saviors. To beat the COVID-19 causing corona virus, SARS-CoV-2, researchers are focused on recruiting other viruses to go to war on our behalf, but time isn’t on our side.
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• Our track record of using viruses to defeat other micro-killers is anything but flawless, but we’ve had some notable wins. Viruses have been engineered to destroy deadly bacteria, for example, when our standard antibiotic weapons failed. The trick is using a virus that won’t do damage of its own, while serving as a Trojan horse to dismantle our enemy from within.
• To accomplish this mission against SARS-CoV-2, that virus may be parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5), believed to cause kennel cough in dogs but appears harmless in people. A recent study tested using PIV5 to deliver a vaccine against the corona virus that causes MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), a lethal virus that triggers severe lung disease. 
• "We know people have been exposed to PIV5, but it seems to be an innocuous virus in humans," said study co-lead Paul McCray, M.D., a pediatric pulmonologist and corona virus expert at the University of Iowa.