Posted by Bob
(here)
Interesting breakthrough for treating MARBURG virus, same family that the Ebola is part of..
(
Source)
A new type of drug, which uses “small interfering RNA,” or siRNA, a technology that
interferes with how the virus grows once it gets into a cell was used.
Some of the monkeys were treated as soon as 30 minutes after being infected, while others received treatment beginning three days after exposure. All of them survived, while the monkeys that received no treatment died.
Canada's
Tekmira developed the product.
The study, was funded by the U.S. government and conducted in collaboration with the drug’s manufacturer, Canadian firm Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, involving giving 21 rhesus monkeys lethal doses of the MARV-Angola virus.
Prior to Wednesday’s findings, no long wait time post-exposure treatment had been shown to entirely protect non-human primates. This treatment IS successful.
The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, could prove significant in part because the type of Marburg involved — the most lethal form — is closely related to the Ebola virus responsible for the devastating outbreak in West Africa.
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