Ebola virus outbreak grows<\/a><\/p>\nThere are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 267 people have died, local officials say.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced more than 1,400 people have been diagnosed and 438 have died from Bundibugyo.<\/p>\n
The trial “offers real hope that we can deliver concrete results for, and with, the communities at the heart of the outbreak,” Dr Tedros said in a statement.<\/p>\n
More participants needed<\/p>\n
WHO research adviser Vasee Moorthy said the trial could take months, with possibly as many as 1,000 participants to tell if either drug works.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if one or the other drug is shown to be highly effective, scientists will be able to tell more quickly and with fewer patients, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a participant begins the trial, survival will be tracked for 28 days after starting treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine or specific treatment and has a high fatality rate. (Reuters: Victoire Mukenge)<\/p>\n
A second phase of the trial will include healthcare workers, close contacts and others at high risk of infection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Depending on how quickly the outbreak evolves, the research could continue for six or more months, Professor Placide Mbala said, the coordinator of laboratory activities for the current outbreak.<\/p>\n
The current trial is a collaboration between Congo’s national biomedical research institute INRB, Britain’s Oxford University, Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine and other international health groups.<\/p>\n
Hopes for relief<\/p>\n
Some Bunia residents welcome the trial, while others are voicing their distrust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Audrey Tengetenge, the trials represent a “light at the end of the tunnel”.<\/p>\n
“I hope everything moves very quickly so that we can find relief. We want nothing more than an end to this very dangerous disease, which continues to bring us grief,” Ms Tengetenge said.<\/p>\n
Another resident, Gladys Munguro, is also hopeful about the new study.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Munguro survived Ebola and was discharged from an Ebola treatment centre two weeks ago, where she said she watched fellow patients die from the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This experimental phase is necessary for us,” Ms Munguro told The Associated Press.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I will volunteer as soon as the next phase of the trials begins for high-risk individuals.”<\/p>\n
Australia won’t impose travel restrictions despite overseas Ebola spread<\/a><\/p>\nThe federal government will not impose border restrictions on travellers from Ebola-stricken countries despite new suspected cases in Italy and Brazil.<\/p>\n
Others are concerned that the treatments could be the cause of more deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Research should be carried out first and foremost on our elected representatives, as they are the ones who represent us,” Nelson Dhebi, a shopkeeper in Bunia, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials plan to expand the trials to other locations once it is safe to do so.<\/p>\n
AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trial for an experimental Ebola treatment has started in Congo, where the largest-ever Ebola outbreak continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,336146,84608,137,1109,3854],"class_list":["post-780555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bundibugyo","tag-ebola","tag-health","tag-trial","tag-world-health-organisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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