Drug used to treat hepatitis can also cut the Ebola death rate, study

A variety of hepatitis treating drug, and also multiple sclerosis is also helpful in treating Ebola, a new study found recently.

As of now there is no vaccine or drug to treat Ebola virus. Clinical trials at various places and phases are actively underway. Primary results indicate a breakthrough sometime soon.

 It is imperative on various people involved in similar research to share the data and asses a new treatment.  Hence various efforts to collect, share all data to test the efficacy of various means, so as to find promising intervention to treat the same, said senior author Dr. Eleanor Fish from Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI).

As per the new study, which first published in PLoS One, Nine individuals with Ebola virus were treated with Interferon beta-1a, and compared retrospectively with a matched cohort of 21 infected individuals receiving standardized supportive care only during the same time period at the same treatment centre in Guinea, West Africa from March 26, 2015 to June 12, 2015.

When compared to patients who received supportive treatment only, 67 per cent of the interferon-treated patients were still alive at 21 days in contrast to 19 per cent of the former patients. Additionally, the viral blood clearance was faster in those patients treated with Interferon beta-1a. Many clinical symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea and diarrhea were also relieved earlier in the interferon-treated patients.

A further 17 patients in other Guinean treatment centres who matched the interferon-treated patients based on age and the amount of Ebola virus in their blood were included in the analysis. These added patients, who did not receive interferon, more than doubled their risk of dying as a result of not being treated with the drug.
"Despite the limitations of a single arm, non-randomized study, we infer from these data that Interferon beta-1a treatment is worth further consideration for the treatment of Ebola virus disease," said Fish.

News Source: ANI

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