Successfully tested Ebola drugs in short-tailed monkeys

US and Canadian scientists have recently successfully tested the Marburg virus medication that has the same family name as Ebola in short-tailed macaque, opening a positive hope for its ability to resist Ebola's "death" virus.

The information has just been published in the August 20 issue of the American Translational Medicine magazine.

To carry out this study, experts from the University of Texas (USA) and Canadian pharmaceutical company Tekmira have injected a large amount of Marburg-Angola virus into the bodies of 21 short-tailed monkeys. This is the most dangerous strain of Marburg, causing a mortality rate of up to 90% in just 3 days after the onset of symptoms.

After that, the scientists isolated 5 monkeys and injected the siRNA produced by Tekmira for the remaining 16 monkeys. These 16 monkeys are divided into 4 groups and treated with different doses and times.

The first group is treated within 30-45 minutes after infection. The second group is treated after one day. The last two groups were treated after 2-3 days. The results showed that all 16 monkeys treated with siRNA survived, while 5 isolated animals died within 7-9 days after infection.

Medical staff transferred an Ebola-infected patient to a hospital in Biankouma, Costa Rica on August 14.(Photo: AFP / VNA)

Professor Thomas Geisbert from the University of Texas Department of Immunology and Microbiology, who led the study, said siRNA was made with nanotechnology . When injected into the body, the drug will attack infected cells to prevent the Marburg virus from developing.

Professor Geisbert hopes the drug will be effective in treating Ebola, since both viruses have the same symptoms.

Previously published studies also showed similar therapeutic effects for Marburg-infected pigs.

Currently, pharmaceutical company Tekmira is testing siRNA on humans.

Earlier, in March, the company was licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to research and develop anti-Ebola drugs called TKM-Ebola .

Together with the family Filoviruses, Marburg and Ebola viruses cause the same symptoms as hemorrhage, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The disease is transmitted by contact with the body fluids and causes a death rate of 25-80%.

Previously, US experts also tested the Ebola virus serum ZMapp for the first two American patients, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. After being treated with a serum made up of 3 antibodies and a substance made from genetically modified tobacco leaves, the health of both doctors improved markedly. However, medical experts believe that it is very difficult to produce ZMapp serum on a large scale.

There are currently no drugs or vaccines that can be effective against the Ebola virus.

Ebola bacteria are named after a small river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The infection is caused by contact with the blood and body fluids of several animal species, mainly monkeys and a large bat species of the family Megachiroptera.

People infected with Ebola can transmit the disease to healthy people through sex.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the outbreak in February last year in West Africa, the Ebola virus has so far killed 1,350 people.