I'M A SCIENTIST B'COZ SCIENCE IS KEY TO OUR SURVIVAL - I : Invest and contribute towards Research

A promising Ebola cure around the corner : 

The new study , published in the Nature Journal last Friday,  demonstrates the efficacy of a combination of monoclonal antibodies (ZMapp) in reversing the advanced stage disease in non-human primates (monkeys). The most promising step so far towards a cure.

Link to the study -

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/full/nature13777.html

The new treatment is a combination of 3 antibodies and has shown 100% reversal in the 18 monkeys that were treated. However, in humans since the progress of the disease is slow, it  maybe not as effective. It may be for these reasons that in humans, the experimental drug has shown mixed outcomes. Although 2 people died despite receiving ZMapp, three recovered.

Some info on EBOLA:

• Symptoms - high fever,  nervous system damage, bleeding
• Spreads by - body fluids
• Incubation period 2-21days
• No vaccine or cure so far
• supportive treatment to normalise electrolyte balance due to vomiting/ diarrhoea increases survival odds.
• Fruit bats ( found in Africa)- natural virus host