Antibodies from Ebola Survivor Protect Mice and Ferrets against Related Viruses
Published:25 May2017 Source:National Institutes of Health
The fight to contain the 2013-16 Ebola outbreaks in West Africa was hampered by the lack of an effective treatment or vaccine. Researchers funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have studied the blood of an Ebola survivor, searching for human antibodies that might effectively treat not only people infected with Ebola virus, but those infected with related viruses as well.
Now the researchers have identified two such antibodies that hold promise as Ebola treatments. Previously, researchers had discovered only one antibody-from a mouse-capable of protecting mice against multiple different species in the ebolavirus lineage.