Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:30 pm
Ebola can no longer be called an incurable disease, scientists have said, after two of four drugs being trialled in the major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were found to have significantly reduced the death rate.
ZMapp, used during the massive Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, has been dropped along with Remdesivir after two monoclonal antibodies, which block the virus, had substantially more effect, said the World Health Organization and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which were co-sponsors of the trial.
The trial in the DRC, which started in November, has now been stopped. All Ebola treatment units will now use the two monoclonal antibody drugs.
“From now on, we will no longer say that Ebola is incurable,” said Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the director general of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in DRC, which has overseen the trial.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the US NIAID, said the overall mortality of those given ZMapp in the trial in four centres was 49% while that of Remdesivir was 53%. A monoclonal antibody drug made by Regeneron had the lowest overall death rate, at 29%, while the monoclonal antibody 114 made by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics had a mortality rate of 34%.
But the results in people who arrived at a treatment centre soon after they became sick, rather than staying at home, were even more impressive – with death rates of 24% on ZMapp, 33% with Remdesivir, 11% with 114 and just 6% with Regeneron’s drug.
William met with volunteers at the National Maritime Rescue Institute station in Simon'sTown, near Cape Town, before boarding the boat…
As of September 1st 2024, there were around 36.8 million Moroccans. The governmentspokeswoman revealed the figure on Thursday, November 7th.Spokesman…
Donald Trump, the oldest president of America and the first convicted felon has led to a lot of arguments in…
According to a top UN official, Sudan's conflict is increasingly damaging the region with overflowing consequences into neighbouring South Sudan…
Thousands of kilometres apart, the political, economic and ideological links between Ghanaand the United States make the American elections very…
It’s another round of Afro qualifiers for the 2025 African Cup of Nations as nationalteams set their sights on making…
This website uses cookies.