The Ebola virus was brought to the
forefront of global attention during the outbreak from 2013-2016 in which
almost 30 thousand people were affected and more than 11 thousand in West
Africa died at the hands of the virus. An ongoing outbreak in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo is already the second largest outbreak of Ebola on
record, putting a lot of pressure on the medical community to find a medical
countermeasure to the viral agent. So far, the US government has approved no
countermeasures, but research is looking promising.
On January 10th, the
U.S. Army Medical Research Institution of Infectious Disease announced that
they have been able to successful make a cocktail of various monoclonal antibodies
that can protect monkeys against all three strains of Ebola even when
administered as late as a week after infection. The mixture, called MBP134, is
made up of two monoclonal antibodies (originally found in the blood of one of
the survivors of the 2013-2016 outbreak), which have been found to have an enhanced
effect when paired together. While previous mixtures of mAbs have been able to
protect guinea pigs, this modified version is the first with the ability to
protect a primate species. Ideally, this is one large step closer to finding a
vaccine for humans.
For more information:
-India Robinson
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