Has an Ebola cure been found? Hopes raised after breakthrough with experimental drug
HOPES have been raised of finding a cure for the deadly Ebola disease after scientists today revealed a breakthrough in an experimental treatment.
Experts have found the ZMapp drug had a 100 per cent success rate in treating monkeys who caught the virus which has swept through West Africa.
Even when animals were experiencing severe symptoms after being infected for five days the experimental treatment cured them of Ebola.
The ZMapp drug has also been given to two US doctors who caught the disease while working in Liberia and they subsequently recovered.
It is not known if the drug was behind the improvement, or if they got lucky. Some 45 per cent of those infected by Ebola have survived without treatment.
We hope that initial safety testing in humans will be undertaken soon
The study was led by Dr Gary Kobinger who said: "ZMapp exceeds the efficacy of any other therapeutics described so far, and results warrant further development of this cocktail for clinical use.
"We hope that initial safety testing in humans will be undertaken soon, preferably within the next few months, to enable the compassionate use of ZMapp as soon as possible."
The study into ZMapp by Mr Kobinger and his team has been published in a special report on the Nature journal's website.
Some 18 monkeys infected with Ebola who were treated with ZMapp made a complete recovery while three untreated others fell seriously ill and died.
The drug uses three laboratory-made antibodies designed to neutralise the virus and the study gives hard evidence it works and can be effective.
The development comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned the Ebola outbreak in West Africa could kill more than 20,000 people.
Latest figures show 1,552 deaths from the 3,069 cases reported so far.
It kills by overwhelming the immune system and sending the body into shock as blood pressure drops to dangerous levels.
Currently there are is no approved vaccine or post-exposure treatment.