http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_664000/664300.stm
Ebola, one of the most terrifying diseases in the world, could be treatable
according to a new study.
The research, done on mice in the US, even suggests that an effective vaccine
could be developed in the future.
Ebola viruses cause catastrophic internal bleeding in infected humans. The
disease is nearly always fatal and no vaccines or treatments currently exist.
Several lethal strains
However, the scientific team, led by Mary Kate Hart at the US Army Medical
Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland, has discovered a
promising approach.
They managed to produce antibodies to the virus in laboratory mice. These
antibodies were then removed and replicated.
A second set of mice was injected with the antibodies, both before and after
being injected with Ebola - many of them survived, despite receiving 300
times the lethal dose.
The antibodies were administered a day before or after infection, which
normally kills within a week. Most of the mice lived for at least 28 days.
New hope
There are several lethal strains of the Ebola virus but the disabling
antibodies attach to a part of the virus common to all of them.
Previous studies had suggested that antibodies did not help protect from
Ebola, but this new work shows that there is hope.
"These results suggest that it is possible to elicit by vaccination, or
produce for therapeutic use, antibodies protective against all Ebola viruses
that are pathogenic for humans," the team conclude, in the journal Science.
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