An Ebola serum treatment to mitigate the outbreak will be available in two weeks, according to the World Health Organization.
In spite of reports of an outbreak outside Africa, efforts to mitigate the outbreak in the areas severely hit by the Ebola virus have yielded positive results. The World Health Organization asserts an Ebola serum treatment is expected in the coming weeks.
Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are the countries worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, with the latter scheduled to receive the first wave of treatments.
Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, WHO's assistant director general for health system and innovation, also confirms that ongoing research for a drug and vaccine could result in sufficient treatments by January next year. Ebola serum treatment is currently extracted from patients who successfully endured the Ebola virus.
Kieny on the development of the serum: "There are partnerships which are starting to be put in place to have capacity in the three countries to safely extract plasma and make preparation that can be used for the treatment of infective patients."
"The partnership which is moving the quickest will be in Liberia where we hope that in the coming weeks there will be facilities set up to collect the blood, treat the blood and be able to process it for use." (bbc.com)
Developing a serum for the virus is straightforward, but the difficulty lies in producing enough to keep up with and stop the outbreak. Patients who've successfully fought off the Ebola virus have antibodies resistant to the strain, and doctors can extract samples of their blood to develop a treatment called serum.
The serum excludes the patient's red blood cells, retaining the white blood cell counterparts. These are then introduced to the infected patients' bloodstream.
Kieny said vaccines and drugs are to be tested for safety and efficacy, with results expected by the end of the year.
"These trials will all start in the coming two weeks... and continue for six months to a year but to have initial results about safety and immunogenicity to have a choice of a dose level by the end of this year in December."
