Author: Aimee Cunningham / Source: Science News
Amid the second largest Ebola outbreak ever, the hunt for a lifesaving treatment is on.
A clinical trial of patients taking place now in Congo is gathering evidence on experimental therapies, to provide a proven option when the deadly virus inevitably emerges again.The first multidrug clinical trial of Ebola therapies, which began enrolling patients in November, will compare the effectiveness of three different antibody treatments and one antiviral drug. One therapy tested briefly during the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa, the largest ever, has already shown promise.
With the trial data, though, “we’ll be able to say, ideally, that this drug or that drug actually does work, not just we think or hope it does work,” says Richard Davey, one of the principal trial investigators and the deputy clinical director at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md.
Ebola virus causes severe illness, including fever, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding. Death rates range from 25 to 90 percent, depending on the outbreak. During Congo’s current outbreak — the country’s 10th and its largest since Ebola was discovered within its borders in 1976 — about 63 percent of those infected have died, or 510 out of the 811 cases reported as of February 9. Stopping the outbreak, which began August 1, has been difficult due to security risks and armed conflict in the region, as well as public mistrust of the medical response, the World Health Organization says.
The drug trial began at a treatment unit in the northeastern Congolese city of Beni, with plans to add additional units. Enrolled patients will receive one of the four trial therapies, as well as standard, supportive care including fluids, electrolytes and painkillers. Researchers will compare death rates between each group of enrolled patients after 28 days of treatment to determine each drug’s effectiveness. All four treatments on trial have…
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