Ebola healing through foreign blood therapy

Hope: Ebola patients recover from third-party blood therapy

09/27/2014

Every day reports on the terrible effects of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Now there is a new ray of hope. Two Ebola-infected people are healthy again after a therapy with blood from already recovered patients. The World Health Organization (WHO) is hoping for a vaccine from 2015.

Two infected people are healthy again after therapy
Two US doctors who have been infected with Ebola in Liberia are recovering from treatment with blood from already recovered patients. However, it can not be clearly determined whether this is due to the special therapy, or the good medical care in the US. However, even though it may be too early to make informed statements about the efficacy of such therapies due to the low number of treatments, these could be a promising option, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nearly 3,000 dead in West Africa
The WHO stated that there is currently a growing scientific interest in such methods. The therapy is based on the fact that there are special antibodies in the blood of survivors, which could help the patients. However, large-scale blood therapy can not be implemented immediately given the poor health of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone health systems. Therefore, it is in discussions with health authorities, which groups of persons should first have access to such treatments. According to figures from the WHO, over 2,900 people have died in the current Ebola epidemic. Experts believe that the number of unreported cases is higher.

Health experts call for more help
Meanwhile, experts from 16 European countries have called for more aid to the affected countries of West Africa. Like the 44 health experts in one in the trade magazine „The Lancet“ The European states would have to send medical staff, mobile laboratories, protective clothing, disinfectants and devices such as power generators. „After months of inaction and neglect by the international community, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has gone completely out of control“, so the experts. Not only West Africa is threatened by the virus, but the whole world.

WHO hopes for vaccine from 2015
Deputy WHO Secretary-General Marie Paule Kieny said Friday in Geneva that WHO hopes to see a viable Ebola vaccine in early 2015. One is currently focusing on two substances that would be tested for their efficacy in clinical trials. If the tests are positive, deployment could begin early next year. Mass vaccinations are then not possible because of the limited supplies. By the time vaccines or remedies for the deadly infectious disease become available, physicians will only be able to alleviate typical Ebola symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, nausea, and internal and external hemorrhage. (Ad)