The long battle to find a cure for Ebola

• Autores: Clare Wilson
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2981, 2014, pág. 7
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Progress to combat Ebola pharmaceutically has been painfully slow. Several potential drugs and vaccines are working their way through animal studies and clinical trials, but on-the-ground trials are hard to conduct because outbreaks are so unpredictable. Last week, the clinical process was sidestepped when two US missionary workers infected with Ebola received an experimental drug called ZMapp. In an unusual step, Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were given the drug, which was flown from the US to Liberia. ZMapp is a blend of three monoclonal antibodies which had previously only been tested in infected monkeys. The drug prevents the virus from entering and infecting cells, and reportedly stabilized both enough that they could fly home for further treatment.