EBOLA: WHO Approves The Use Of Survivors' Blood In Treating Patients

The World Health Organization, WHO, has given countries hit by Ebola outbreak the go-ahead to use the blood of Ebola survivors in combating the highly infectious and deadly virus.


There is no cure for Ebola, and the virus has killed more than 2,000 people in the latest outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Hundreds have also recovered from the virus.

Medical experts say survivors develop antibodies of the virus in their blood, capable of providing a fair degree of immunity from further infection.

Vaccines for the virus could be available for use on the frontline by November, the world health body said.

But as the world’s seeks desperate ways of containing the spread, WHO said Friday that the affected countries should use the blood of patients who recover from the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in treating other patients.

There are no data on the effectiveness of this therapy. However, studies on the 1995 outbreak of the virus in Democratic Republic of Congo showed seven out of eight people survived after being given this therapy.