A new outbreak of the Ebola virus is “inevitable” but a new vaccine and rapid-response measures mean it will be more effectively contained, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday. The Ebola crisis that began in December 2013 killed 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and has left thousands more survivors … Read more
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $50m on Wednesday to support emergency efforts to contain West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, which has already killed almost 2 300 people in the worst outbreak of the virus in history. The US-based philanthropic foundation said it would release funds immediately to UN agencies and international organisations to help … Read more
U.S. health authorities have eased safety restrictions on an experimental drug to treat Ebola, a move that could clear the way for its use in patients infected with the deadly virus. Canadian drugmaker Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration modified a hold recently placed on the company’s drug after safety issues … Read more
What should happen if a massive viral outbreak appears out of nowhere and the only possible treatment is an untested drug? And who should receive it? The two American missionaries who contracted the almost-always-fatal virus in West Africa were given access to an experimental drug cocktail called ZMapp. It consists of immune-boosting monoclonal antibodies that … Read more
A plant has been found to halt the deadly Ebola virus in its tracks in laboratory tests, scientists have said. They used a compound from Garcinia kola, a plant commonly eaten in West Africa. Compounds from the plant have also proved effective against some strains of flu. If the anti-Ebola compound proves successful in animal … Read more