Drug Shows Promise For Ebola Virus Treatment In Primates

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031212074806.htm

In a recent study, scientists for the first time have successfully treated monkeys with the Ebola virus. The ebola virus is a severe and often lethal (if left untreated) disease that causes a hemorrhagic fever. Vomiting and bloody diarrhea are also symptoms of the virus. Although it is not very contagious, outbreaks of Ebola do occur in poor areas without modern hospitals and can have fatality rates as high as 68%.

Thomas W. Geisbert and colleagues from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) injected 12 rhesus monkeys with Ebola virus in this study. Nine of the twelve specimens were treated with a drug (recombinant nematode anticoagulant protein c2), while the other three were left untreated. The treatments were administered daily. This drug took a unique approach to combatting the virus; rather than combat the virus itself, the goal was to combat the symptoms of the virus. Ebola causes coagulation and abnormal blood clotting. Studies show that macrophages play an important role in this process. They express a clotting protein on their surface during this process. The administered drug blocks the effects of the clotting proteins.

Of the nine treated monkeys, three survived and six died. All three of the untreated monkeys died much sooner than the six that were treated. These results are promising, and the drug is already being used to treat certain coronary diseases and will hopefully be used one day to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans.

I am interested in pathology, so this article interested me. It is interesting to read about the current research on some of the world's deadliest diseases and how treatment can be applied to not only treat the disease, but also treat other diseases.