Drugs block Ebola, Marburg viruses in tests

[Elmore Furth]

Source: LA Times

Synthetic nucleotides injected into monkeys can block the replication of Ebola and Marburg viruses, suggesting it eventually may be possible to protect humans against these deadly bioterror agents, researchers said Sunday.

The monkeys get very sick, but most of them survive. The agents, called morpholino oligomers, are the first drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to go into clinical trials against the viruses — although those trials will, at least initially, be conducted in primates, not humans.

The results are "a potentially important proof of concept but still a long way from a product that can be used with confidence against human infections," said virologist Alan L. Schmaljohn of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research.

Schmaljohn cautioned that the drugs were given within an hour after infection and that they could be much less effective later in the course of the disease or against a more aggressive strain of the viruses.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-ebola-marburg-20100823,0,6268581.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fworld+%28L.A.+Times+-+World+News%29

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Here are the top 10 incurable diseases.

Ebola
Polio
Lupus Erythematosis
Influenza
Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease
Diabetes
HIV/AIDS
Asthma
Cancer
Common Cold

http://listverse.com/2007/10/04/top-10-incurable-diseases/

The Zaire Ebola virus has a 90% fatality rate and in general Ebola has a 50-90% fatality rate. There are four types of Ebola: Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Reston, and Ebola-Cote-d'Ivoire.

Reports suggested that the Ebola virus was researched and weaponized by the former Soviet Union's biological weapons program Biopreparat. Dr. Ken Alibek, former the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat, speculated that the Russians had aerosolized the Ebola virus for dissemination as a biological weapon.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/bio_ebola.htm.


Marburg virus fatality rates have varied greatly, from 25% in the initial laboratory-associated outbreak in 1967, to more than 80% in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1998-2000, to even higher in the outbreak that began in Angola in late 2004. There is some speculation that the Marburg fatality rate is higher than that of Ebola.

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/marburg/en/

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03270501/Marburg_Angola_CFR.html

[aquart]

1. This is nice.

[kittykitty]

2. I sure hope so! nt

[Warpy]

3. Ebola is a poor weapon as it exists now

because the prodromal stage, the period from infection to illness, is so short. Spread would be extremely limited and simple quarantine would keep any outbreak quite limited.

It's good news that they're zeroing in on a way to stop the progression of the virus from infection to a quick death.

[nradisic]

4. That is very cool...

I hope this helps develop vaccines...

[happyslug]

5. Mixing Virus based disease with body disease and that is the list?

If this is true, it will provide the first time anyone has found anything that "cures" a Viral based diseased. We call get colds and Flu (both are Viral based Diseases) and the symptoms of the cold or flu is treated. We then recover from it, how the body actually defeat the virus is unknown. What we do know of Viruses is if we get one, it should kill us. This is unlike Bacteria (germ) based disease, which can be defeated by Antibiotics.

Now, we can get vaccines for viral infections, and thus defeat the spread of the Disease (Small Pokes, Polio, Measle etc are some of the Viruses we defeat by Vaccinations BEFORE we get the actual decease). Vaccination is the process of giving someone the disease in a way to minimize the harm of the disease (Either by giving the person dead forms of the disease or weakened forms of the disease).

Lets look at the "Ten Deadliest Diseased", Five of them are Virus base disease. these are the following:
Ebola
Polio
Influenza
HIV/AIDS
Common Cold

One is a Prion, which is a protein that acts in a manner similar to the DNA in a Virus:
Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease
For more on Prions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion

Two are diseases, based on symptoms, not causation.
Cancer
Asthma

The others are malfunctions of the body
Diabetes (Inability to process sugar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus)
Lupus Erythematosis (Where the body's immune system attacks itself, http://www.medicinenet.com/systemic_lupus/article.htm)

Thus five (six if you include Prions with Viruses) are caused by diseases that MUST enter a body to survive and replicate themselves. Two are the body just NOT working right (With this also being a factor in Asthma).

The last two, Cancer and Asthma, more defined by symptoms then actual causation. In this case, the cause of the disease may be several different agents. The best way to show this is to discuss Hepatitis. Prior to the 1960s, there was only one type of Hepatitis and it was defined by its symptoms. Then someone found what was causing mos to the cases of Hepatitis, but at the same time found out that it did NOT cause all of the cases of Hepatitis. This was called Hepatitis, type A. The reminding cases were called Hepatitis NON-A. Later on another cause was found for Hepatitis, this was called Type B, then a Third was found, this was type C, then a Fourth, this was type D. After finding Types A,B,C,and D, there were still cases of Hepatitis. This are called Hepatitis Non-A, Non B, Non C,and Non D.

Thus we have at least five causes of Hepatitis, yet Hepatitis is still listed a a disease WITHOUT the Type A,B,C,D labels. The reason for this is Hepatitis is the disease as defined by the Symptoms of the Disease NOT its Causation. The Various Type A, Type B, Type C and Type D are Hepatitis defined by its causation. I bring this up to show that often a name of the disease is a product of its symptoms not causation. In many cases the Cause is found and the disease is re-defined in terms of causation instead of Symptoms, but sometime that is NOT possible (as in the case of Hepatitis). The same is true of Cancer and Asthma, the causation varies for BOTH diseases and thus the Disease is defined in terms of Symptoms. Thus these diseases can have many causes.

My point is this list is meaningless. It has meaning as to the Viruses and Prions it mentions, and to malfunctions of the body, but as to disease defined by Symptoms this list is meaningless.

[xchrom]

6. advances made for dealing with viruses is good news indeed. nt