Ebola back on the agenda!

[Workingman]

I see that US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has been looking at "genetic drift" and "escape variants" in Ebola and questioning whether some of these are as a result of the unlicenced, but humanitarian, use of some of the cocktails used in the latest outbreak in W. Africa.Here

They found more than 600 genetic mutations over the entire genome, in every comparison. When the team looked at parts of the genome which are targets for therapeutics, they found 10 that could cause problems with sequence-based drugs and the mechanism of action of that drug.

Three of the genetic mutations occurred during the current Ebola virus outbreak.

Ms Cafferkey received such a cocktail and also an experimental plasma transfusion.

[Suff]

When working with the US I tend to categorise them as 80:20. Usually 80% totally useless and 20% the best in the world. Their 20% is the stated population of the UK....

I put USAMRIID in the 20% bracket.

There are reasons why drugs go through such extreme testing regimes. However I'm pretty sure that the potential for loss of life far exceeded the damage which could possibly be done by these unlicensed techniques. Also this kind of proving ground, where such large numbers of potentially terminal patients were available, might not have arrived again for decades.

What I am glad about is that organisations like USAMRIID are already on top of the possible outcomes.

Still doesn't help all that much, but at least it might avoid a potential catastrophe.

[Workingman]

I put USAMRIID in the 20% bracket.

Me too. It was good to read that they and their colleagues were asking the hard questions and then looking for answers.

What we have today might be only a temporary reprieve, but at least we will have some answers to work with and possible other avenues to take in the future thanks to the work being done.

[KateLMead]

The workers in my opinion deserve a medal, their goodness is unsurpassed. I do wonder however with all the immigrants fleeing from different countries whether the public here are at risk.., the carriers of TB that has spiralled here and is unresponsive to drugs. As has sexual diseases including syphillis , and there is always the thought that citizens where Ebola has been detected and rife could also be carriers.

[Workingman]

Whisper it quietly, the WHO is, but two new cases have been confirmed in Guinea after a two week period with no new cases. One, in the capital Conakry, has no known previous link.

Of the most heavily infected areas only Liberia has reached the 42 day period where it can be declared Ebola-free.