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Over the summer, an international network of blood regulators developed a physician’s paper for regulators, and for anyone who might wish to become involved, outlining the reasons to consider antibodies derived from blood or convalescent plasma, or ultimately, hyperimmune globulins as a potential therapy in a filovirus outbreak. They provided an assessment of the previous …

The use of convalescent plasma or serum Read More »

  The following table includes the leading candidates, however a number of these are not yet ready for a phase-1 trial but may be coming into trial over the next three to six months, and some are slightly longer term. Vaccine Manufacturers (developers): Vaccine details: Testing timeline: ChAd3-ZEBOV GlaxoSmithKline (National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chimpanzee …

Ebola vaccines in development Read More »

Experimental therapies for Ebola include new compounds, as well as existing drugs approved for other purposes which demonstrate activity in laboratory models and which potentially could be repurposed. At least something is known about the approved drug’s safety profile, though the doses used for Ebola may not be the same. Each of the following potential …

Experimental therapies being evaluated to treat Ebola Read More »

Despite research into Ebola vaccines and therapeutics over the past decade, no product has been fully evaluated and approved for human use. This means that the only way to deal with this unprecedented outbreak has been to use the same basic public health and supportive care measures that were available in the past. Having an …

WHO’s Comprehensive Plan to Rapidly Develop Therapeutics and Vaccines Read More »

“The most difficult part for a clinician is when you don’t know if the patient has Ebola or not,” said Dr. Frederique Jacquerioz at the recent American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Meeting in New Orleans. Despite the title of her presentation ‘from the ‘Hot Zone’: A Clinician’s Perspective on Confronting Ebola Virus in …

Lessons learned in the ‘Hot Zone’ Read More »

At the launch of the 2014 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Conference in New Orleans, Bill Gates said the meeting was talking place at a critical moment in the history of global health — in the midst of an Ebola epidemic in a part of the world that had already been hit hard …

How did this Ebola outbreak emerge and what have we learned? Read More »

A recurring question about the current Ebola outbreak is how it grew to be so large — and whether the virus has changed modes of transmission or somehow become more infectious. However, most of the experts at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Health conference held in New Orleans in early November agreed: The …

Why has this Ebola outbreak been so large? Read More »

“There have been reports about Ebola survivors selling their blood on the black market in the affected countries,” one audience member from Lagos, Nigeria said at a roundtable discussion on Ebola during the recent American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in New Orleans in early November. “Is there any effort to regulate this? …

Is there a Black Market for Ebola Convalescent Blood Products? Read More »

“Coordination has been a routine failure in Ebola outbreak after Ebola outbreak,” Dr Armand Sprecher of MSF said during a roundtable discussion at the ASTMH conference in response to a question from a healthcare worker from Taiwan. She said her country would be sending a number of healthcare workers to the field soon and wanted …

Coordination of new teams of Ebola responders a big challenge Read More »