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5 September 2014 Last updated at 13:26 ET
Use Ebola survivors' blood - WHO
By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website
The blood of patients who recover from Ebola should be used to treat others, the World Health Organization has announced.
...
People produce antibodies in the blood in an attempt to fight off an Ebola infection.
In theory, those antibodies can be transferred from a survivor into a sick patient to give their immune system a boost.
However, large scale data on the effectiveness of the therapy is lacking.
Studies on the 1995 outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo showed seven out of eight people survived after being given the therapy.
Dr Marie Paule Kieny, an assistant director general at WHO said: "We agreed that whole blood therapies may be used to treat Ebola virus and all efforts must be invested to help infected countries to use them.
"There is a real opportunity that a blood-derived product can be used now and this can be very effective in terms of treating patients."
...
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29084254
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Study:
Treatment of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever with Blood Transfusions from Convalescent Patients
K. Mupapa,
M. Massamba,
K. Kibadi,
K. Kuvula,
A. Bwaka,
M. Kipasa,
R. Colebunders and
J. J. Muyembe-Tamfum on behalf of the International Scientific and Technical Committee
+ Author Affiliations
Kinshasa University, Ministry of Public Health, and Kikwit General Hospital, Kikwit, and National Institute for Biomedical Research, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
Reprints or correspondence: Dr. R. Colebunders, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, B-2000 Antwerpen, Belgium (bcoleb@itg.be).
Next Section
Abstract
Between 6 and 22 June 1995, 8 patients in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo, who met the case definition used in Kikwit for Ebola (EBO) hemorrhagic fever, were transfused with blood donated by 5 convalescent patients. The donated blood contained IgG EBO antibodies but no EBO antigen. EBO antigens were detected in all the transfusion recipients just before transfusion. The 8 transfused patients had clinical symptoms similar to those of other EBO patients seen during the epidemic. All were seriously ill with severe asthenia, 4 presented with hemorrhagic manifestations, and 2 became comatose as their disease progressed. Only 1 transfused patient (12.5%) died; this number is significantly lower than the overall case fatality rate (80%) for the EBO epidemic in Kikwit and than the rates for other EBO epidemics. The reason for this low fatality rate remains to be explained. The transfused patients did receive better care than those in the initial phase of the epidemic. Plans should be made to prepare for a more thorough evaluation of passive immune therapy during a new EBO outbreak.
...
? 1999 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Full text:
http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/conten...ent_1/S18.full
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This treatment is discussed at the end of this video (at around 41:00)
EBOLA: THE PLAGUE FIGHTERS - NOVA - Discovery/Science/History (documentary)
Published on Feb 22, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYskFkqoyI
Use Ebola survivors' blood - WHO
By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website
The blood of patients who recover from Ebola should be used to treat others, the World Health Organization has announced.
...
People produce antibodies in the blood in an attempt to fight off an Ebola infection.
In theory, those antibodies can be transferred from a survivor into a sick patient to give their immune system a boost.
However, large scale data on the effectiveness of the therapy is lacking.
Studies on the 1995 outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo showed seven out of eight people survived after being given the therapy.
Dr Marie Paule Kieny, an assistant director general at WHO said: "We agreed that whole blood therapies may be used to treat Ebola virus and all efforts must be invested to help infected countries to use them.
"There is a real opportunity that a blood-derived product can be used now and this can be very effective in terms of treating patients."
...
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29084254
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Study:
Treatment of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever with Blood Transfusions from Convalescent Patients
K. Mupapa,
M. Massamba,
K. Kibadi,
K. Kuvula,
A. Bwaka,
M. Kipasa,
R. Colebunders and
J. J. Muyembe-Tamfum on behalf of the International Scientific and Technical Committee
+ Author Affiliations
Kinshasa University, Ministry of Public Health, and Kikwit General Hospital, Kikwit, and National Institute for Biomedical Research, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
Reprints or correspondence: Dr. R. Colebunders, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, B-2000 Antwerpen, Belgium (bcoleb@itg.be).
Next Section
Abstract
Between 6 and 22 June 1995, 8 patients in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo, who met the case definition used in Kikwit for Ebola (EBO) hemorrhagic fever, were transfused with blood donated by 5 convalescent patients. The donated blood contained IgG EBO antibodies but no EBO antigen. EBO antigens were detected in all the transfusion recipients just before transfusion. The 8 transfused patients had clinical symptoms similar to those of other EBO patients seen during the epidemic. All were seriously ill with severe asthenia, 4 presented with hemorrhagic manifestations, and 2 became comatose as their disease progressed. Only 1 transfused patient (12.5%) died; this number is significantly lower than the overall case fatality rate (80%) for the EBO epidemic in Kikwit and than the rates for other EBO epidemics. The reason for this low fatality rate remains to be explained. The transfused patients did receive better care than those in the initial phase of the epidemic. Plans should be made to prepare for a more thorough evaluation of passive immune therapy during a new EBO outbreak.
...
? 1999 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Full text:
http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/conten...ent_1/S18.full
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This treatment is discussed at the end of this video (at around 41:00)
EBOLA: THE PLAGUE FIGHTERS - NOVA - Discovery/Science/History (documentary)
Published on Feb 22, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYskFkqoyI
Last edited:
