London: Here’s good news for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Now they no longer need to suffer the bad effects of the disease. Israeli researchers have developed a nasal spray crammed with viruses known as ‘bacteriophages’ that can relieve the annihilative signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

The scientists have stated that their spray has the capability to crack up beta amyloid, a sticky protein, which blocks the brain in Alzheimer’s patients to wipe out links among nerve cell.

Emphasizing that phages are typically known to destroy bacteria, the scientists laid claim that they were the first to illustrate that phages can have an effect on plaques in the brain as well.

The researchers discovered that examinations on mice had verified that a regular treatment with the phages for a year slash the amyloid extent in the rodents’ brains by 80 per cent. It also enhanced the mice's remembrance and learning, and restored their smelling sense that is often vanished early in the beginning of Alzheimer's disease.

Professor Beka Solomon of Tel Aviv University said, “The mice showed a very nice recovery of their cognitive function.”

She disclosed that once the amyloid plaques have cracked up, the phages are naturally flushed out of the body without causing any side-effects.

“The phages are going into the brain, they do their work and then the body gets rid of them,” she said.

As the medicine is administered through the nozzle, it can slip into the brain past the blood-brain barrier, a membrane that typically stops drugs and other poisonous substances from entering.

Professor Solomon’s analysis has been hailed by British researchers, but with a caution that it may take several years before the cure becomes saleable.

Susan Sorensen of the Alzheimer’s Society stated, “Penetrating the bloodbrain barrier is a very real and current challenge for researchers looking at new treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. We need to be especially cautious as previous treatments using phages for other types of conditions have resulted in side-effects.”

“We are a long way from this novel way of administrating treatment being translated into practice,”she added.