Good news in the fight against the Ebola virus. Via Nature:
Researchers based at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada, administered an antibody cocktail named ZMAb to cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) infected with the Zaire virus — the deadliest strain of Ebola, prevalent in African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon. All four of the monkeys that began the three-dose treatment regime within 24 hours of being infected survived. Two of four monkeys given the cocktail from 48 hours of infection also lived. A monkey that was not treated died within five days of infection.
“The antibodies slowed replication until the animals’ own immune systems kicked in and completely cleared the virus,” says Gary Kobinger, a medical microbiologist at the University of Manitoba who led the study.
Odds of humankind’s survival just went up, now that we don’t have to rely on Rene Russo and Dustin Hoffman.
