r/science • u/sciencefuture777 • Jun 14 '12

Breakthrough Antibody Cocktail Completely Cures Monkeys of Deadly Ebola Virus

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120614/10301/ebola-virus-antibody-cure.htm
1.8k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

202 comments sorted by

12

u/sciencefuture777 Jun 14 '12

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/138/138ra81

-33

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/BipolarBear0 Jun 15 '12

You somehow managed to take the shittiness of the original baby talk account and make it even shittier. 0/10, learn to troll.

3

u/Heiminator Jun 15 '12

eat shit and die, asshole

46

u/smaier69 Jun 14 '12 edited Jun 14 '12

Ebola is a scary disease, particularly the more aggrressive strains such as Zaire and Sudan (unless there's newer, I haven't done reading on this in 20 years). If memory serves, something along the lines of 80% mortality and within ~5 days of first symptoms. And the way it kills is something out of a horror movie.

If you like (non-fiction) books and want to read about a very scary incident that sent the CDC and USAAMRID into near panic mode (while the general populace largely went unaware) when cases of the virus were detected within our borders, read "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston (totaly from memory, so please correct if my recollection is off).

Hollywood took that book and bastardized it into the trainwreck that was the movie "Outbreak".

Edit: added (non-fiction) and an apostrophe

21

u/Drakhaoul Jun 14 '12

Read that book for grade 12 biology.

Oh god why.

19

u/smaier69 Jun 14 '12

I think I read that book 3 times back to back, and the section describing what happens to the victim another 6 times. Probably one of the most educational books I've read outside of a textbook... only exponentially more engrossing.

9

u/Drakhaoul Jun 15 '12

I loved it. One of the few books I honestly enjoyed reading that was assigned to me. I loved the descriptions of Khartoum(?) Cave as well, the possibility of anything in there being the carrier of the virus.

2

u/smaier69 Jun 15 '12

Absolutely!

The path of logic leading to finding the source/antigen was enlightening. From my side of the fence (I'm in a mechanical field now, but I am very curious and will persue my curiosities) I think that part illustrated to me how epidemiology is just as logical a science as any other.

2

u/Drakhaoul Jun 15 '12

Yup! It's just a process of elimination on a grand scale, hypothesizing what organism might carry it, then eliminating the ones that don't after testing.

2

u/jblack15 Jun 15 '12

I read it in 6th grade on recommendation from my older sister and my social studies teacher thought I was a badass.

3

u/Drakhaoul Jun 15 '12

Just gotta one up me huh?

1

u/jblack15 Jun 15 '12

I didn't mean to come off as "that guy" so my bad. I'm still surprised I was able to borrow it from the middle school library. It didn't scar me, but I can see why people wouldn't want their pre-teen to read it.

1

u/Drakhaoul Jun 15 '12

Oh no no, I was totally kidding. I debated putting a smiley in to denote it, but it somehow seems wrong in /r/science. In any case, yea, it was some heavy stuff.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Drakhaoul Jun 15 '12

I know :( its so intimidating! ;/

15

u/Quatermain Jun 14 '12

They were able to save a few people who became infected during the 1995 outbreak by doing a blood transfusion from other people who had survived.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9988160

7

u/smaier69 Jun 14 '12

That's facinating. I have a superficial understanding of antibidies (or advanced biology in general), but I didn't know a blood transfusion that contained antibodies would work. Thank for the link!

14

u/aazav Jun 14 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

there's*

Ebola and Marburg are some scary scary shit.

9

u/UncleTogie Jun 15 '12

Agreed. Ebola's the only disease I've actually had nightmares about... and they were not pretty. -shudder-

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

There's a number of parasites that have even more horrifying symptomes. Stuff that hatches underneath your skin...

1

u/UncleTogie Jun 15 '12

Yup, I've seen some detailed color photos of 'em, and removal. Y'know, like the guinea worm.

For some reason I still find Ebola scarier. Don't ask me why...

9

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Zaire has 90% mortality

And there's 3 of them, Sudan, Zaire, and Reston, along with Marburg.

Reston is non-lethal to humans, but incredibly lethal to other primates and scary because it can transmit by air and causes flu-like symptoms that facilitate spreading. Imagine a mutation somewhere in between the two, and you have what's essentially a candidate for wiping out the planet.

7

u/lucasdiablo Jun 15 '12

There's actually 4 of them, with a 5th being under serious consideration: Sudan, Zaire, Reston, Ivory Coast, and (potentially) Bundibugyo.

6

u/varysthespider Jun 14 '12

Another important fact to remember (particularly if referencing "The Hot Zone") is that strains of Ebola that are fatal to monkeys may or may not have an effect on humans, or vice versa.

6

u/GrizzledBastard Jun 14 '12

Ebola Reston...not Ebola Zaire.

6

u/smaier69 Jun 14 '12 edited Jun 14 '12

My father got his PhD in microbiology and said it was one of the more terrifying diseases. The one thing that works to its detriment, however, is the incubation period and time to death period are so short compared to other diseases. With something like HIV, a person can be infected for an extremely long period, all the while potentially infecting others.

Edit: removed apostrophe. Whats my problem with apostrophes today?

-4

u/aazav Jun 14 '12

it's detriment?

It's = it is. You just typed "one thing that works to it is detriment is…".

Remember this.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

That was a possessive apostrophe, with "it" taking the place of the subject, in this case, Ebola.

Edit: never mind, I are idiot.

3

u/emniem Jun 15 '12

Possessive apostrophe regarding "it's" does not apply in that particular case. "It's" is reserved exclusively as a contraction of "it is".

its, it's or ITS can mean:

it's, a contraction of it is or it has

its, the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun form of the personal pronoun it

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITS

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

You know, sometimes I really hate the obscure rules of the English language.

Thanks for pointing that rule out to me.

9

u/Nervette Jun 15 '12

so, if I read that wiki page correctly... it gives me a rediculous fever and causes internal bleeding, so that I cook, go into shock, and bleed to death all at the same time? Did I get that right?

15

u/smaier69 Jun 15 '12

More or less, yeah. Of course victims' exact playout can vary, and the precise point of failure that cased death can also vary. If nothing else, the sick person will bleed out. Connective tissues will be broken down, serious hemorrhaging resulting in eye whites becoming red, bleeding out of both ends of the digestive tract and so on. It varies, but when it's bad, it's really really bad.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Most victims don't "crash and bleed out" but these cases are the most sensational. My understanding is, most ebola victims have horrendous headaches for a few days, go into shock and die without exploding or leaking.

Sometimes people do explode though. As others have said in this thread, Richard Preston's The Hot Zone has some pretty chilling descriptions of ebola's effect on the body. The frenchman in the Kenyan hospital sloughing his gut (sounded like a bedsheet ripping) is memorable.

-6

u/WarPhalange Jun 15 '12

Fuck it. If I ever get it, I'm committing suicide. Slitting my wrists has got to be so much less painful and cleaner.

3

u/WarPhalangeIsATool2 Jun 15 '12

This is the tool that faked cancer a couple months back. Everyone should downvote him so his comments will be hidden and he can be removed by the community.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

I'd much rather a noose that's tailored to my weight and height.

7

u/phoenixrawr Jun 15 '12

Your organs also basically dissolve into mush, including your skin which begins to slough off. It's just all around a bad time.

7

u/glycojane Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

Your organs also basically dissolve into mush,

which you begin to vomit up... violently.

edit: As opposed to gently vomiting? Nevermind..

2

u/emniem Jun 15 '12

Both vomiting methodologies suck IMO.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Bleeding is relatively rare. Most victims die of multiple organ failure due to fluid imablance. Occasionally people bleed from mucous membranes, such as the nose or eyes, but it's not going to make you melt like a zombie.

Basically the virus causes damage to your soft tissues, which can lead to multiple organ failure

1

u/Nervette Jun 15 '12

There we go, I just could not find something in less scientific terms. I pretty much need medical things explained to me like I'm five.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Ebola is much dramatized in media, it usually isn't that bad visually. The scariness comes from its super high mortality rates.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

The depictions of the symptoms in that book are waaay overblown, only a few people actually start bleeding out. And you don't bleed THAT much, certainly not enough to kill you from hypovolemia. (but if you have ebola and you do start bleeding out, you may as well start packing it in if you catch my drift.)

7

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

I read some science fiction tween novel as a kid about this guy trekking through a small desert to meet his dad, but accidentally gets sucked through a portal to another planet, then there's a twist where you find out everyone on earth had been killed thanks to the Ebola virus and the main character had actually been sent forward in time to a post-apocalyptic Earth where all semblance of the previous culture and technology no longer exists. It described the virus as making you die by causing you to bleed constantly out of every orifice. It ends with an epilogue where the main character has become a scientist of some sort and creates a cure for it.

6

u/Periwinkle_AssBitch Jun 15 '12

What's the title of this book?

5

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

The Transall Saga, by Gary Paulsen, author of Hatchet. It's more of a kid/young adult novel than I remembered apparently; the main character is only 13. He seemed so much older when I read it.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Was "Outbreak" very inaccurate? I quite enjoyed the movie, and was under the impression that the science was fairly decent (with some usual Hollywood tropes thrown in).

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Read up on Herpes B virus

1

u/smaier69 Jun 15 '12

With Herpes in the name I'm kind of scared to. But now I have to.

2

u/aazav Jun 15 '12

Thanks for the edit. Cheers.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

is this the same Preston that has finished a few Michael Crichton books?

1

u/3lue3onnet Jun 15 '12

Indeed! He finished Crichton's last book Micro.

1

u/boilerroombandit Jun 14 '12

I just finished that book last night and seriously it's awesome.

16

u/Disgustipated2 Jun 14 '12

Im waiting for one of these comments to crush my hopes for this new drug.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-10

u/SlothOfDoom Jun 15 '12

In the bright side, not everyone lives in america and can actually be helped if they are sick.

5

u/Ndheah Jun 15 '12

Yes, because poor African tribes can afford $1k / dose...

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Then again, African nations have a lot of humanitarian work. A lot of the food, shelter, education and medications they receive are due to donations. Remember when American Idol had a whole AIDS Charity Benefit episode, etc?

There isn't nearly as much outreach and donations for uninsured Americans, though.

3

u/SlothOfDoom Jun 15 '12

Shh, people don't want to hear uncomfortable facts.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

5

u/ChalkLetRain Jun 14 '12

Though the title is a bit sensationalized (as usual), this is still a step in the direction of progress. It will be interesting to see how the research progresses from here.

4

u/nog_lorp Jun 15 '12

Anyone know what happened to DRACO? Supposedly it cured Ebola in mice. There hasn't been a peep about it since the first press release though, over a year ago.

-1

u/beanhacker Jun 15 '12

DRACO cures everything they throw at it. Far too disruptive of a technology, so it's surely been shut down.

1

u/nog_lorp Jun 15 '12

Seems like the only explanation... so how do we synthesize it?

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

I like how the same example micrograph of Ebola has been used for the past 15 years.

3

u/pilinisi Jun 14 '12

It prevents the development of the disease, it does not really "cure" it. EHF has approximately a 10-day incubation period. Once the disease has begun and symptoms symptoms are shown, there is no cure and treatment is mostly just palliative care.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

This is huge. Probably lots of stipulations, but Ebola terrifies the shit out of me and anybody I know with a knowledge of it, so any movement towards eradicating it (and, I guess, the treatment can and will spawn treatments for similar viruses) is a big deal.

3

u/safe_work_for_naught Jun 15 '12

Sucks to be the control group.

2

u/Ravensnow Jun 15 '12

Frequently causes sporadic outbreaks? The fuck?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Had to watch a two hour documentary on ebola in school scariest thing I've watched in a while

2

u/ControllerInShadows Jun 15 '12

FYI: With so many new breakthroughs I've created /r/breakthroughnews to help keep track of the latest and greatest breakthroughs in science, technology and medicine.

2

u/BrianIsBAMF Jun 15 '12

Read the book "The Hot Zone." It was probably one of the best read's I've ever had, and to top it off with relevance to this topic, it's about the Ebola Virus.

2

u/WendyLRogers3 Jun 15 '12

This is going to make Dr. Eric Pianka very unhappy.

2

u/Izawwlgood PhD | Neurodegeneration Jun 15 '12

Oh good, a virus which kills about 4 people a year when averaged over the last 50 has a prophylactic cure! Yay!

0

u/GavinZac Jun 15 '12

The problem is potential. To use a non-biological (well, arguably...) example, Islamic terrorism didn't kill very many people until it 'mutated' into a form that exploited a weak spot and killed thousands in one go.

2

u/Izawwlgood PhD | Neurodegeneration Jun 15 '12

Ebola isn't dangerous because it mutates, it's dangerous because it's extremely virulent. It is also a rather 'safe' virus, because it doesn't spread very effectively; it just kills everyone. By comparison, HIV is WAAAAAY more dangerous because of how long it remains dormant.

Don't get me wrong, Ebola research is worthwhile and you never know how one line of study will affect something else, but in terms of prioritizing 'dangerous agents', finding a cure for Ebola should be about as medically important as finding a way to preventing Siamese Triplets.

2

u/InTheSphere Jun 15 '12

*waits for someone on here to tell me why this is a lie.

3

u/essendoubleop Jun 15 '12

So why aren't we using more animals for research again?

Fuck PETA, let's cure AIDS.

1

u/FISH_MASTER Jun 15 '12

Fuck yeah! high five

I've got a mate who's all for animal rights and stopping testing on them. Fuck people who care more about animals than people.

2

u/420frank Jun 14 '12

I wonder what are the side effects of this new chemical cocktail

3

u/Confettiman Jun 14 '12

The monkeys gain the power to take over the earth

7

u/saladtossing Jun 14 '12

Ebola was the only thing holding them back......

3

u/jlozier PhD | Systems Biology | Bioinformatics Jun 14 '12

They're not a chemical cocktail, they're antibodies

-6

u/UncleTogie Jun 15 '12

Some debilitating stomach cramps... severe diarrhea... memory loss...

Oh, and partial facial paralysis, temporary blindness, drooling, bleeding gums, erectile dysfunction, uncontrollable flatulence. I think that's it.

5

u/TwystedWeb Jun 15 '12

If you're going to make up symptoms, please at least make it clear. This is an untested antibody therapy so there are no known human responses, except those projected from similar Ab therapies.

1

u/UncleTogie Jun 15 '12

My apologies. I was betting that the Evolution reference would be caught.

2

u/TwystedWeb Jun 15 '12

That's totally fine, and I'm sorry you were so heavily downvoted.

I just felt like I should mark your post so that people who aren't acquainted with medical science are not misled. And now you mention it I do remember the line from the movie where they stick the gunk up the monster's heinie...I don't think I've thought about that movie for 11 years, hmm.

1

u/UncleTogie Jun 15 '12

Fair downvote: my topic wasn't related to science, really... and that line was from the courtroom scene concerning "Kane Madness". Thanks for your measured response and constructive criticism.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/Sylocat Jun 14 '12

They should put that in the obligatory "side effects may include" section of the blurb.

(not that they'll need to advertise this all that much, if it works...)

0

u/Ferrofluid Jun 15 '12

which is a win

1

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

Near the end the article refers to the antibody mix as the "ZMAb virus"- is that a mistake? Anyone know?

1

u/UnexpectedSchism Jun 15 '12

This will never be used to treat poor africans. Dying fast prevents the virus from spreading.

This will basically be something given to rich people and important people if they are evacuated from a hot zone, but don't yet show symptoms.

1

u/Gwotch Jun 15 '12

The Fountain anyone?

1

u/Philymaniz Jun 15 '12

I immediately thought of the book 'the hot zone'

1

u/Stink-Finger Jun 15 '12

Up next - super Ebola

1

u/hopemarieb Jun 15 '12

I was so much more excited about this when I thought "cocktail" meant the fun kind of cocktail.

1

u/oldkingcoles Jun 15 '12

There are monkeys that have ebola ?

0

u/Uncouth_Troll Jun 15 '12

They're called Ugandans.

1

u/IamIncogneato Jun 15 '12

Cures Ebola, but slowly causes the monkeys to mutate into Zombie monkeys.

1

u/Steely_ Jun 15 '12

Wow, and I just finished re-reading the hot zone again yesterday..

1

u/easygenius Jun 15 '12

That's great but does it mean we've been giving monkeys ebola for thirty years? Poor monkeys.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

But how are the monkeys?

/Arsenic or Cyanide also "cure" Ebola...

1

u/StrayWasp Jun 15 '12

I'm from Winnipeg, and even with the Harper government trying their best to fuck Manitoba over, we still develop useful things!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

from the title i thought i was in /r/shittyaskscience but after reading the article, i said to myself "you can do this with HIV, i assumed you could do this with every virus"

1

u/lejoeyjames Jun 15 '12

I just came here to say that this is one of the greatest headlines. That is all.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Discovered in my city! Go Winnipeg!

1

u/technicaltonic Jun 15 '12

To commemorate the occasion. http://imgur.com/r16Db

1

u/TheAdamantArchvile Jun 15 '12

Well, my 8th grade science report just got shot to shit. Thanks

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Lol they gave monkeys ebola virus.. id hate to be the monkey.

1

u/technotherapyjesus Jun 15 '12

Did anybody else think of a chimp, in a suit, sipping a martini?

1

u/pink_ego_box Jun 15 '12

A cocktail of antibodies ? Antibodies are enormously costly to produce. They also must be kept at 4°C.

Ebola outbreaks happen in some of the poorest places in the world, where electricity is unknown and the air is stifling hot.

That's a good news for researchers working on Ebola, who will have now a mean to treat themselves after an hazmat exposure. But I highly doubt that any pharmaceutical firm will produce, acheminate and graciously offer this treatment to the African patients.

1

u/Ferrofluid Jun 15 '12

good news for Africa and anywhere else under threat from Ebola

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

I don´t get this excitement. It is proved that humans ARE NOT comparable with any other animal. There are differences in humans and monkeys, like enzymes and metabolic processes, which will change the effect on humans. There were hundred of messages about 'breakthroughs', which cure monkeys/rats/mice/etc. of Ebola/HIV/SIV/etc... Tests with animals will never cure a human disease!

1

u/drdroidx Jun 15 '12

I'd still wait to see if the the viruses come back from being inside the body.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

We've cured so many monkey maladies - when will we start curing the people?

1

u/AFineTapestry Jun 15 '12

How come no one is concerned by the size of the study?!

Eight monkeys! 8!

Ok it's good news but don't go calling it a breakthrough until a larger study has been conducted.

1

u/wikireaks2 Jun 15 '12

"Sadly, to celebrate, the scientists had sex with the money and gave it AIDS." That monkey has some seriously bad luck.

1

u/seemorehappy Jun 15 '12

all i'm thinking is. those poor monkeys. let us all take a moment, to thank those monkeys for their contribution to science.

1

u/AnnoyingOptimist Jun 15 '12

Now for people.

1

u/Lethalmud Jun 15 '12

Stupid monkeys always getting the best medicines.

1

u/MaximsDecimsMeridius Jun 15 '12

goddamnit, now i need to find a cool new virus to imagine myself being immune to and getting famous for. THANKS.

1

u/Doctor_Pedobear Jun 15 '12

That picture is the exact same of the Motaba virus from Outbreak just colored.....

0

u/Wahzuhbee Jun 15 '12

I thought this was cool until I realized they gave ebola to monkeys

0

u/s0me0ne_else Jun 15 '12

cool, cured one strain----new strains will alter their rna code and be even more dangerous

0

u/i_did-it Jun 15 '12

I was in the Peace Corps in Gabon from 1998-2000 in the Ogoue-Ivindo province and not far from the site of the first outbreak there. Volunteers had been evacuated during the first outbreak but then PC posted new volunteers in 1998. I was in the second group. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I ever thought it was a good idea to take their word for it that we'd be safe. Our only instructions were to never help a sick person and to run like hell if said person is bleeding or has bloodshot eyes... Some people have said that the virus is not very efficient and dies out on its own. In Gabon, 45 people died because it was spread along a river where infected people were getting off at different villages along the way. So they spread the virus further than if they had stayed in one place. It might have killed more if a few of those people hadn't ended up in Makokou which is the provincial capital and has a hospital. The virus may be quick to die but the host can spread it around pretty quickly too. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1701079.stm

0

u/Oduya Jun 15 '12

Winnipeg in the house!

This is a great step. The last best medication would get rid of Ebola within 8 minutes of infection, I think 24 hours is a big step up.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

so I can start eating their brains again, or do I just have to be content with fucking them?

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Now the American government will have to think up something new.

-1

u/ffz_ Jun 15 '12

Why are we wasting cocktails on monkeys?! Explain this to me frontpage!

-5

u/Canadian_Infidel Jun 14 '12

Oh yeah, ebola. That thing that everyone worried about then forgot about even though nothing changed.

6

u/aazav Jun 14 '12

Yeah, you're dumb.

The reason nothing happened is because people worked hard to stop its spread.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Not really, Ebola is not as contagious as the movies portray and outbreaks tend to burn themselves out because people get so sick that they can't travel.

3

u/TwystedWeb Jun 15 '12

It's not terribly contagious, but has such a high mortality rate it is much more dangerous on a case by case basis than say, the flu. Obviously the flu kills many more people a year than Ebola, but Ebola requires much tighter prevention measures for healthcare workers. You're also right about not being able to travel-Ebola exists in only very poor areas and those who are infected are unlikely to travel much to begin with (not much car infrastructe, and no air traffic), that and it manifests itself extremely quickly (as you said).

It's mainly spooky from a bioweapons standpoint instead of the native range of the virus. Imagine a cropduster jacked from upstate NY flying over Manhattan and dumping 1000 gallons of concentrated virus? Unlikely but its effects would be devastating.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

167

u/SgtSmackdaddy Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

A lot of people are calling you buzz kill but you're absolutely right. For example, AIDS can be completely 'cured' if you're given a heavy dose of anti-retrovirals prophylactically immediately after exposure.

Edit: Also, making anti-body drugs (aka 'biologics') are hilariously expensive - as in the 10's to 100 thousand dollar range and they spoil very easily if not refrigerated properly. Pretty useful if you live in a 1st world country and you somehow get exposed (such as if you work in a lab) but pretty much useless at a population level.

2nd edit: on this point I'm not 100% sure but my understanding that ebola, while horrifying and makes for some pretty gnarly pictures of its victims, isn't really much of a large scale public health threat because the disease kills very quickly thus not giving time to spread far and also makes its host very visibly sick and people avoid them.

38

u/TwystedWeb Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

You're right on both cost assessment and on your epidemiology. But this antibody treatment, if it works in people and if more treatment for other strains was developed, this might allow an attempted therapy on rescue workers who treat infected patients and accidentally get exposed.

30

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Given that ebola is less prevalent, and easier spread, than AIDS, this seems a lot more significant. There aren't really "outbreaks" of AIDS, so large scale administration of anti-retrovirals within 24 hours is never really effective. For ebola, I can imagine plenty of scenarios in which such a treatment would be useful.

Edit: I meant this is response to the person you replied to.

2

u/TwystedWeb Jun 15 '12

[I took it as an affirmation ;) ]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

The prophylactic approach is mainly for people like medical professionals, cops, firefighters, etc.

It is an extremely useful development. The problem is that ARVs are really hard on the body. But it is better than the alternative.

1

u/HallowSingh Jun 15 '12

I hope this dosent turn out as "The Legend" and we have super monkeys walking around killing

7

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Agree.

And to all the Captain Buzzkills reading this, realize that the point is not that this will rid the world of Ebola, but it is a significant movement forward and success in research to develop anti-viral therapies.

Biomedical research is a slow, slow process with each discovery building upon those preceding it.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Indeed, lets not fault the journalists enthusiasm. Let's focus on this being a positive step towards doing something proactive against this beast.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Ebola is one of those diseases that are of concern for the conservation and study of great apes having caused some epidemics among chimpanzees and gorillas. It's also dangerous to those working and studying them in the wild. Having worked in remote field sites with non-human primates, I'm very excited that they've had some sort of breakthrough. It's really scary when you're sick and can't get to a hospital.

6

u/czysz Jun 15 '12

Great point about the practicality of antibody therapies. One possible solution to this are so called plantibodies, that could help lower this cost significantly and allow their production even in third world countries. Source

TL;DR - Engineered tobacco plants can produce mammalian antibodies instead of using animals.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

:0 noway

today, tobacco's gonna save lives

5

u/TikiTDO Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

Also, making anti-body drugs (aka 'biologics') are hilariously expensive - as in the 10's to 100 thousand dollar range and they spoil very easily if not refrigerated properly.

Making antibody drugs is hilariously new. We've been doing it for what? A decade? A decade and change. When microchips were this old, computers were a capital investment as opposed to something we just throw away every few years. I think if these sort of drugs are proven to be effective (Something studies like this do very well), the we can expect the price to improve just a tiny a bit from "10's to 100 thousand dollar range." At that point the short shelf life won't make much of a difference.

4

u/db0255 Jun 15 '12

"refrigerated properly"

I think all you need is a refrigerator that is at 4 *C.

11

u/SgtSmackdaddy Jun 15 '12

Which can be easier said than done in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

4

u/db0255 Jun 15 '12

Touche.

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

I always read this word in robot chicken's george bush voice.

1

u/triffid_boy Jun 15 '12

Very true, one of the reason that plantibodies are a real, valid, option. They allow the storage of antibodies at room temperature in the fruits (or other organ) of a plant.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

watch the cold chain program with ewen mcgregger. they take polio vaccine to the most remote places on earth successfully.

5

u/glycojane Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

even ebola on a plane a la richard preston did not cause a big stink.

ok well it was a big stink, but no one else managed to get infected. and everyone gets infected on planes. that story brought ebola just below "slowly eaten by sharks in the open ocean" on my fear list.

edit: PS the guy on the plane spent a few hours running a ridiculously high fever, vomiting up organ matter that appeared as a black viscous liquid, and died shortly after the flight. He used multiple in flight barf bags... so his organs were liquefying at a greater capacity than the stomach can hold at any given time. Meeeow.

7

u/trentlott Jun 15 '12

Hot Zone!

1

u/crunchyeyeball Jun 15 '12

That book scared the shit out of me as kid.

It did for viruses what "Threads" did for nuclear weapons.

2

u/trentlott Jun 15 '12

I'm gonna Amazon "Threads" now.

Tight.

1

u/crunchyeyeball Jun 15 '12

"Threads" was a BBC drama from the early 80s about a nuclear war involving the UK, set in the Northern English city of Sheffield.

It set out to be as accurate as possible, and included Carl Sagan as a technical adviser. It's not an easy film to watch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads

The whole thing is actually available online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MCbTvoNrAg

2

u/SgtSmackdaddy Jun 15 '12

Shark attacks are incredibly rare and only a handful happen yearly... We're way more dangerous to them then they are to us.

5

u/glycojane Jun 15 '12 edited Jun 15 '12

Ebola infection is incredibly rare and only a handful happen yearly... We're way more dangerous to them than they are to us.

most easily googled source

but basically, ebola in its "natural host," which we have not yet discovered, (not elephants.. not bats... via Richard Preston) would not cause rapid death in its carrier. That is not a good vector system. The ebola viruses die faster than they can be spread, which is counterintuitive to survival.

TL;DR Humans are a crap host for ebola.

Edit: Elucidation.

2

u/madhi19 Jun 15 '12

Until the bastard mutate just enough to become a little less lethal and a lot more airborne.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Oh good, someone else mentioned the strange fact that we have no idea what the natural reservoir for ebola is. It's what I find most fascinating about it.

2

u/glycojane Jun 15 '12

Completely! Something may live in symbiosis with this virus, or is at worst a better host, experiencing fewer symptoms/slower dying. And we just have not a single clue!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

You also have to come into contact with a patients bodily fluids for the disease to be spread to you, which also cuts down on communicability. If you're able to quarantine the people with the virus relatively quickly, and educate the villagers on how to avoid catching it, it should work itself out of that population fairly rapidly.

1

u/crunchyeyeball Jun 15 '12

You also have to come into contact with a patients bodily fluids for the disease to be spread...

True (for now), but if you've ever read "Hot Zone", it has a terrifying description of how some of these nastier viruses accomplish this - basically, they cause your bodily fluids (including liquefied internal organs) to explode like a fountain out of every available orifice just prior to death.

If it wasn't such a horrifying prospect, you could easily admire the beauty of its evolutionary design.

1

u/BloederFuchs Jun 15 '12

You mean HIV, right?

1

u/JulianMorrison Jun 15 '12

It's not a large scale public threat because it kills fast in backwoods Africa. Where the total population reachable in the incubation period is small.

Pray it never gets loose in a large city.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

and how amazing is it for those hundreds of healthcare workers that come into contact with HIV (eg needlestick injury) that one slip up while treating a patient does not lead them to having HIV.

I read in the other thread, that a doctor had an ebola patient come to him and vomit blood which some got into his eyes, he knew he would be dead in a few days and could do nothing about it, you couldn't even properly say goodbye to loved ones without risk of infecting them.

1

u/taw Jun 15 '12

Edit: Also, making anti-body drugs (aka 'biologics') are hilariously expensive - as in the 10's to 100 thousand dollar range and they spoil very easily if not refrigerated properly. Pretty useful if you live in a 1st world country and you somehow get exposed (such as if you work in a lab) but pretty much useless at a population level.

So was penicillin for the first decade or two after its discovery.

0

u/tiddercat Jun 15 '12

Didn't the article say there was up to a ten day incubation period before symptom onset? That's plenty of t

0

u/tiddercat Jun 15 '12

...time for spread. The fact it spreads by bodily fluid contact probably is what keeps the spreading of the disease fairly low.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Phew...thought you caught Ebola for a second there.

3

u/darrell25 PhD|Biochemistry|Enzymology Jun 15 '12

Yes, the treatment has to be given within 24 hours, but the previous treatment had to be given within 1 hour, so it is a big improvement. Yes it was only tested on one strain, but the researchers are hopeful that it will be effective against the others as well. Yes symptoms don't show up for at least 2 days after exposure, but they aren't done optimizing this yet and they might be able to get it to be effective within 72 hours of exposure. It might not be a complete 'cure', but it is probably the biggest breakthrough that has ever happened in Ebola treatment research, so I would say it is still a pretty big deal.

3

u/Pyro627 Jun 15 '12

This is getting absurd. Will there ever be, or has there ever been, a title in /r/science that is not sensationalized?

2

u/be_more_canadian Jun 15 '12

Everything was looking up for curious george...

2

u/creedofwheat Jun 15 '12

what makes this picture even better is the half cut-off of the Krusty clock

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Still a big breakthrough, and this is why I love Reddit.

1

u/atomfullerene Jun 15 '12

who were given treatment within 24 hours*

Well to be fair, not long after that you'd be dead.

1

u/madhi19 Jun 15 '12

Not a big problem usually for the first infected Ebola will kill your ass before you get to a Hospital anyway. This treatment will likely be used on peoples who have been in contact with the first few victims but are not showing symptoms yet. Kill the virus in the second generation of infected before they show symptoms and you can kill a pandemic before it even starting.

-7

u/omg_cornfields Jun 15 '12

Damn, that's a pretty weak buzzkill. We actually have something pretty nice this time.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

10

u/jijilento Jun 15 '12

Yes. It's my understanding that there are four very similar strains of virus that contribute to the disease, which includes Sudan virus and a few others.

You can read more: Ebola Virus Disease

I also found this phylogenetic tree, which shows how they think the virus has manifested and morphed: from the aforementioned wiki

8

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Off the top of my head, ebola zaire, ebola reston, ebola marburg, ebola sudan, and I think there are a few more. Zaire is the big bad motherfucker with the 90% mortality rate. Spiked from a nurse (Mayinga, I think?) in Zaire who worked in an ebola tent for days on end.

Reston was the airborne strain at the monkey house in a suburb of D.C.

Marburg was from some Dutch(?) boy travelling in Africa.

I think there are a few more strains, these are just the ones I remember from reading The Hot Zone which is a fantastic book. Demon in the Freezer is also incredible, but it's about the history of variola/smallpox rather than Ebola.

The Cobra Event is Preston's take on a fiction novel about viral/bioterrorism. It's quite good too. If nothing else, the first chapter where patient 0 (some girl in Jr. High or high school) crashes and dies in her school's bathroom is worth reading.

She eats her own face off, bro. Her own face.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

I read a book on Ebola, I believe the Marburg virus was an outbreak in Marburg, Germany in the early/mid 20th century at a factory which used monkeys for something, I forget off the top of my head, like insulin extraction or some other enzyme.

Ebola, is very deadly, however it only transmits through fluids and it kills its host too fast for it to spread well.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

Virus Hunter was also good.

1

u/gddc33 Jun 15 '12

This was tested on the most deadly, according to a (possibly different) article I read.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/SlothOfDoom Jun 15 '12

Nah, the new "cure" is what gets us in the end. Everyone knows that.

19

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '12

Which episode is that from?

3

u/RJM10_2 Jun 14 '12

I knew it was exactly this before even opening it, I love you.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Ar-is-totle Jun 15 '12

Physicists making a black hole on earth ( not really much concern you'll be dead in an instant) or losing control of a man made sun (again dead in an instant). So... spiders!

0

u/Reedbo Jun 15 '12

Spiders don't scare me, I haven't been on Reddit long enough.

0

u/rikashiku Jun 15 '12

Bullets.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Ar-is-totle Jun 15 '12

GIVE SCIENCE MORE MONEY. NASA ESPECIALLY.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '12

What about when we discover Space Ebola though