Ebola Treatment Cures Lab Animals in Tests
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The first treatment to show any promise against the deadly Ebola virus has cured one-third of the monkeys it was tested on -- raising hopes that a lifesaving therapy for people may be on the horizon.
In the study, reported this week in the research journal Lancet, scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases used a protein that blocks blood coagulation, considered to be a major problem in the disease.
Three of nine monkeys receiving the protein survived, compared with none of three who received a placebo. Those who died lived an average of four days longer, which could be important in treating humans.
