Wound healing in horses using protein from the orf virus.

A recent study has shown that specific proteins from the orf virus can assist in wound healing in the horse. Researchers from Canada and New Zealand recently showed the healing potential in a specific proteins from the orf virus, a parapoxvirus that causes a highly contagious skin disease in ungulates and humans. The concept is perfectly safe and very promising, as the virus was not smeared on the wound,and wound was irrigated and kept clean. Previous studies had shown that recombinant proteins (IL-10 and VEGF-E), derived from the virus worked well in the skin cells and wounds of mice, so the researchers tested the proteins’ effects in equine skin cells in a laboratory. The results, was satisfactory.