UK Health Radio Medical News Update on the Hour
Ebola Update
The BBC has reported that
clinical trials to try to find an effective treatment for Ebola patients are to
start in West Africa next month.
The
medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres, which has been helping lead the fight
against the virus, says three of its treatment centres will host three separate
research projects. And a faint light
appears at the end of the tunnel as Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
has lifted the state of emergency imposed in the country.
Although she did warn, "this is not because the fight
against Ebola is over".
However
the lifting of the sate of emergency marks the progress being made in the
country, where the weekly number of new infections is falling. Curfews will now
be reduced, weekly markets will resume and preparations are being made for the
re-opening of schools.
One
of the trials involves using the blood of recovered Ebola patients to treat
sick people.
The
Ebola outbreak is thought to have infected more than 14,000 people, almost all
of them in West Africa. The death toll has risen to 5,160.
The
first trials are due to start next month with the initial results being
available in February 2015.
Two
experimental vaccines, produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Public Health
Agency of Canada, have already been fast-tracked into safety trials.
MSF
said these trials were "an exceptional measure in exceptional
circumstances" as they try to bring the outbreak under control.
It seems that the threat of this
disease is receding now a little with less talk of a worldwide pandemic. We will keep you informed of any new
developments over the coming months.
Amanda Thomas
UK Health Radio – Medical News Update
on the Hour
Kindly sponsored by 1-stop-health-shop.com
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