Drug Might Fight Ebola-like Marburg Virus

Original article from: Health Day posted on July 22, 2015. by Randy Dotinga

Researchers say they’ve made preliminary progress toward developing a drug that one day may treat people infected with the deadly Marburg virus, which is similar to Ebola.

Monkeys didn’t die from Marburg virus after they were infected and then treated with the highest doses of the experimental drug. And healthy humans didn’t get sick when they got similar doses, the researchers reported.

“These results have allowed us to predict a dose that could be expected to protect humans exposed to Marburg virus,” said study author Dr. Alison Heald. She is a clinical associate professor with the division of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington Medical Center, in Seattle.

The researchers emphasized that the drug is not a cure, and it’s not known whether it will protect humans or what it might cost.

Marburg virus gets less attention than the Ebola virus since far fewer cases have been recorded. Only 572 cases of Marburg virus have ever been reported, compared to more than 27,000 cases of Ebola in the current outbreak in Africa alone, said Heald. She formerly was senior director of clinical development at Sarepta Therapeutics, which assisted in testing the experimental medication.

But the two viruses are very similar, Heald said. Both are highly deadly and cause a devastating condition known as viral hemorrhagic fever that can lead to massive bleeding and organ failure.

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