Ebola Treatment Offers Hope in Congo

A team of doctors and scientists say new drugs in the treatment of Ebolain Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may prove to be acure to the deadly disease. The new experimental drugs both cocktails of monoclonal antibodies that are infused intravenously into the blood. Ebolais a virus that causes severe bleeding and can lead to death.

“Ebola is dangerous but it is also curable with correct treatment,” saidDr.Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of the Congo’s National Institute forBiomedical Research.Dr. Muyembe, often referred to as Africa’s Ebola hunter, and otherscientists have announced that preliminary results from two trials in theCongo found two drugs, made by Regeneron and the U.S. National Institutesof Health, seem to be saving lives. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said theannouncement represents, “... a very important advancement in thetreatment of Ebola disease.”

The DRC has been waging a year-long war against a major outbreak of thedeadly virus. The epidemic is the second-worst outbreak of itskind,following behind a major explosion of the virus in West Africabetween 2014-2016 which killed more than 11,300 people in Guinea, SierraLeone and Liberia.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases said the announcement represents, “... a veryimportant advancement in the treatment of Ebola disease.