Ebola, alternatives

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   i just wanted to mention some things i thought on, maybe i am partially right.
what if:

1. The persons who got over ebola, and are in a better condition now can be hired to help in treating others that are infected because of a immunity that they built up.

2. the way it has be in the news, one of the medics might have received serum from a child he treated (child that got well). What if for the moment more such serum would be prelevated from the ones that are better now and given to those who are sick, it might help at least a little bit and in a part of the cases... traditional old ways, but still better than none.

sorry if this sound stupid, but thought better mentioning these, and not just holding for myself these 2 ideeas

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atheris Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote atheris Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Ebola, alternatives Posted: August 16 2014 at 1:22pm
	i just wanted to mention some things i thought on, maybe i am partially right. what if: 1. The persons who got over ebola, and are in a better condition now can be hired to help in treating others that are infected because of a immunity that they built up. 2. the way it has be in the news, one of the medics might have received serum from a child he treated (child that got well). What if for the moment more such serum would be prelevated from the ones that are better now and given to those who are sick, it might help at least a little bit and in a part of the cases... traditional old ways, but still better than none. sorry if this sound stupid, but thought better mentioning these, and not just holding for myself these 2 ideeas

KiwiMum Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Chief Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29680	Post Options Post Reply Quote KiwiMum Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: August 16 2014 at 1:53pm
	Interesting thoughts atheris. I'd say that anyone recovering from any life threatening illness would need months of recuperation to fully recover. We don't know yet what sort of damage Ebola leaves in its wake in the people who have recovered. I'd think it would be very unlikely for anyone to actually want to go and tend the people dying from Ebola, especially if they had been there themselves. I can see the merit in asking them to help out but when they say no, would governments try to force them? The same goes for serum production. If you have a hundred people who have recovered in your country and 1000 who are sick, would you just "milk" the recovered people for serum, taking some every day in order to get enough and then to create a surplus. Again I'd say that anyone recovering from a such a serious illness would not be in a fit and healthy enough state to give blood, so would they be forcibly held captive and "milked"? My whole family had H1N1 last year and were incredibly ill. We were bed ridden one after the other for 5 days each and then had another 2 or 3 weeks feeling like the walking dead, and it took us about 4 months to recover properly. We would have been in no fit state to donate blood or to carry the huge responsibility of caring for the dying.
	Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.

hazelpad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote hazelpad Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: August 16 2014 at 5:30pm
	It is not clear if serum from previous patients which should contain high levels of specific ebola antibodies is benificial. I was questioning an article in the guardian and wrote this so excuse the copy and paste. I didn't receive a reply so my scientific writings probably leaves a lot to be desired. I asked the question reguarding the unique property of Ebola Zaire in which it actually hitches a ride on the patients own antibodies to aid viral entry into cells such as endothelium, macrophages and monocytes. This was described by Takada in journal of virology back in 2003. Termed ' antibody dependent enhancement of infection'. I though this was partly why patients rapidly decline in the second week of symptoms. As the antibodies start being generated instead of being neutralising and protective, they actually cause more harm acting like a trogen horse for Ebola. Allowing more effective cell entry and increased viral load. Dr Khan's team were hopeful for him when he staryed generating his own antibodies, and they felt this was a positive sign he would beat it on his own, but sadly soon after he rapidly declined., I wonder if this decline was antibody dependent enhancement of infection. Although ZMapp serum is antibodies, it is humanized mouse antibodies which don't bind to our cells with huge affinity so probably bypasses this effect. Anyway just wondering how this property of Ebola Zaire will influence vaccine manufacture, as the aim of vaccines is to generate specific antibodies. Also what I wondered about is the Ebola reston strain which is not pathogenic to humans, does it provide protection against Ebola Zaire, could it be attenuated and used as a live vaccine, or is their no cross reactivity. Anyone any ideas.